Date A Goddess
by Kurogems1208
Summary: Our story starts after Shidou successfully sealed Tohka's power, and after Megadimension Neptunia's event over twenty years later. A Goddess has joined the operation, but she also has a favor to deal with. LET THE DATE (BATTLE) BEGIN!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Date A Live or Hyperdimension Neptunia. They belong to their respective owners.**

**I have noticed that the DaL x Neptunia stories are all dropped, so I decide to make a new one. It would take a while, but I'm sure it's worth my time and yours. For now, ALL information regarding to any unfamiliar characters will be revealed due time. However, some of you might have guessed who these characters are.**

**With that out of the way, LET'S START THE NEW DATE!**

* * *

"**You want me… to find her?"** A young girl, around sixteen years old, is standing before a desk in an office. She has long blond hair tied up on both sides with green ribbons, shining blue eyes and a cute round face. She wears a yellow shirt under green coat, that doesn't do much in hiding her D-cup chest. She wears a green skirt with green shoes and white shoes. She was going on a trip with her friends when she got a call from the person sitting on the other side of the desk. "Why can't you find her by yourself? I'm sure you can do that on your own just fine."

"Well, I have two reasons. First…" The person gives her a letter. "I'm not allowed to show myself before THAT point. And two…" The person then points to the ceiling. "You can read that pretty well."

The girl looks up and reads the line. Then, she says: "Why me? Why not the others?"

"Your… time is not much, I have to say. I think it's time for you to show the world who you are."

The girl thinks about it… and replies: "I will do it. Besides, **you created me.**"

The person laughs. "Hey now, that wasn't me directly, **it was him.**" The person then looks up the clock on the wall and says: "I have held you here a bit too long. You can return to your friends now."

* * *

"**An unidentified Spirit?"** Itsuka Shidou speaks, as he's standing in the bridge of Fraxinus, a massive airship on the sky.

"That's correct." Itsuka Kotori, the Commander of the ship, replies. "The image is pretty clear, however, it doesn't match to any Spirits from the past." She and her subordinates watch the 'Spirit' starting to walk away from the crater. "AST is coming soon."

The whole group then sees the squad of AST zeroing in on the person as they point their weapons and fire at the 'Spirit'. However, while everyone's expecting the 'Spirit' to either fight or run away, this one calls out a staff and waves it one round, creating a green sphere around her, blocking the damage coming in. Only when the sphere's in effect, the 'Spirit' starts making high jumps and runs away, completely ignoring the shots trying to penetrate through her protection.

"That's… strange." Murasame Reine, the Analysis Officer, comments. "A Spirit that couldn't fly? This is a rare case."

"I don't know if this is good or bad." Kannazuki Kyouhei, the Vice Commander, says. "But… even Princess' fighting ability has some troubles dealing with AST's concentrating weapons. This Spirit's defense straight up blocks everything."

Kotori then sees the 'Spirit' running into a mall, thus causing AST squad to stop shooting and spread around, awaiting for her to come out. "Big Bro, do you think you can talk to her?"

"I… think so." Shidou replies, then gulps. "Hope it's nowhere as dangerous as Tohka…"

…

Minutes later

'Where could she be?' Shidou has been teleported into the first floor of the mall, as he starts searching for the 'Spirit'. He has scanned for the first two floors, but ended up with nothing. He heads to the third one and enters a clothing shop… and sees the girl standing in there, admiring the clothes. Her staff is held in her left hand, as it glows softly enough to look around. 'That's… too mundane. She forgot that she's being hunted?'

The 'Spirit' then notices him standing outside, as she turns to look at him. Pointing her staff at him, the light shines up a bit, and the light flashes through him so the girl could see him clearly. Though, that sudden event causes him to slightly flinch back and hold his arms up to cover the light.

The light then dies down a bit, as the girl asks: "Who are you? Are you with the people who are trying to kill me?"

"Uh, my name…" Shidou plans to answer, before Kotori stops him from doing so. He decides to hold his tongue before…

"Who are you talking through that earpiece?" That follow-up question quickly catches him and the crew off guard. They didn't think that the 'Spirit' knows what that earpiece is for. "Slowly take it off, and put it on the ground. Then answer my questions, honestly."

The light starts turning from white to red, indicating that the 'Spirit' is planning to attack at any sudden moves. Out of fear, Shidou immediately follows her order, and the earpiece is on the ground now. He then answers: "My name is Itsuka Shidou, and I'm not with the people who tried to kill you before."

The red light turns back to white, and the 'Spirit' continues: "Aside from their focuses, I felt another stare on the sky, though I doubt it's from a satellite. Care to explain?"

* * *

"Ridiculous! Another Spirit with knowledge of the modern world?" Kyouhei shouts. "We already have Nightmare to deal with, and now…"

Kotori immediately stomps on his feet to stop him from talking. While the man's crying in pain in the corner, the girl says in worry: "We can't communicate with him now. Prepare the teleportation if something bad happens."

* * *

'Oh no! If I didn't answer correctly, I'm going to get killed!' Shidou screams in his mind, not wanting to experience that again. He gulps hard and answers: "I… I am from an organization that wants to save you from the people who attacked you before."

The 'Spirit' looks up and down, observing his appearance. Then, she says: "At least you're not bringing any weapons. So, how do you plan to 'save' me?"

Judging from her expression, Shidou could say that she's curious about his work. However, he can't let out too much information. "Well… do you notice the destroyed area when you, uh… first stood?"

"Yes, and I'm a bit surprised. Normally 'that' travel wouldn't do such things." The 'Spirit' replies, thinking about her arrival.

"It's because of it that drew their attentions. We could try to hide your appearance, since this group couldn't attack normal people."

Hearing Shidou's answer, the girl thinks about it for three seconds, then says: "Pick up the earpiece again. This time, I will ask, and I will receive answers through you."

"…Eh?" Shidou asks back, dumbfounded at the change.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Quickly replying, Shidou picks up the earpiece and puts it on his ear.

"Okay then. Now, I want a clear answer. How do you plan to save me? I don't need the sensitive information, just common knowledge."

…

"Common knowledge?" Shidou asks, as everyone quickly analyzes and gives out the best answers. Right now, the three options appear:

1-I would ask you for a date.

2-I would try to hide you away.

3-Do not answer.

"This is bad…" Kotori says, uncertainly. "We're dealing with level-headed type of Spirit. What do you think?"

"The third one is obviously a no go." Nakatsugawa Munechika immediately says. "The Spirit shows to have some sorts of demeanor like Princess, so not answering would end up with Shidou being harassed more."

"The second one is likely better…" Shiizaki Hinako follows. "But, the first one is also a fifty-fifty. This Spirit is more cool-headed than Princess, so she might recognize a joke or so."

"It will be a little risky, but if it's me, I would go for the first one as well." Reine says, not knowing exactly which to pick. "Also, Shidou has said that we could hide her appearance, but she seemed to doubt it."

"Then, it's decided. Shidou, it's the first one."

Kotori then speaks out the sentence, causing Shidou to flinch, that doesn't go unnoticed by the 'Spirit'. "What's their answer?"

"Well…" There's no going back. "I would ask you for a date."

A silence passes… Then, the 'Spirit' pulls out a piece of paper and looks through it. She then puts it back and sighs. "And I thought **he** was joking." She then looks at Shidou while holding the staff up. "I guess you're the person I'm looking for."

Another options:

1-What do you mean?

2-So destiny has put us together?

3-I don't really like you, but this must happen.

"What… kind of obnoxious option is that?" Kotori starts questioning the third choice.

"Maybe it's for some sort of planned dates? You know, forced marriage?" Minowa Kozue says, having seen something like this in some 'anime'.

"But this is obviously not, so out of question." That's Mikimoto Masaomi's comment. "The second one sounds romantic enough."

"However, Shidou doesn't have that sort of look to say that quote." Kawagoe Kyouji denies. "The first one is actually the best option, because the question is directed towards US."

"… I almost forgot about that." Kotori replies honestly. "Okay Shidou, the first one."

Shidou nods and says the option. And the 'Spirit' replies: "**I was asked by a friend of mine** to do some works here. He said that I could work with a person named Itsuka Shidou, which means you, and I could help you with this 'date' operation of yours. I was shocked at how you work, but he said that you could be trusted. And I trust him, so I will trust you."

"Eh?" Shidou expresses his confusion through the face.

The girl then walks to him, and now he sees that she's actually slightly higher than Tohka, but still shorter than him. She then flicks his forehead with her fingers, catching him off guard. "I'm not going to let you seal away my power, and that method of yours doesn't work on me as well. But, I could pretend so those people won't chase after me. Agree?" And with that, she offers a handshake to Shidou, who hesitantly returns the gesture.

Then, the girl suddenly smiles in a childish way. "Alright! Acting time is over!"

"…HEH?" Both Shidou and the crew shout in surprise.

"That's all acting from me!" The staff then disappears, as the girl pulls out a handheld console of sort and opens its flashlight. "First impression is always important, so I decided to pull out **a friend of my sister's way of speech**. Impressive, right?"

"Eh…" Shidou has nothing to say about that, since he's a little shocked about the change of atmosphere.

Seeing the dumbfound face of his, the girl's smile widens. "Got you good!" Then, she looks out at the window, and spots two AST members waiting at the top of the opposite building. "They're still around. Do you have a suggestion on how we can escape this building?"

"Um… I was able to get here with teleportation device…" Shidou replies.

"Hm… teleportation… come to think of it, where's everyone?"

After hearing instructions from Kotori, Shidou answers: "It's because everyone has been evacuated. Though, they're going to go out soon, and AST has to retreat after that."

"So we can wait, or we go out… What do you think? Oh, how about both?" The 'Spirit' suddenly claps her hands, as she thinks of some sort of plans to get out.

"Eh…both?" Shidou asks back, having no clues of what she's saying.

"We can pretend to be lovers and then walk out! They wouldn't dare to attack you, right?" The girl tilts her head cutely, thinking the idea being a good plan.

"That…"

"I'm just joking." The girl interrupts. "But still, we should wait. If they're not going to attack, then we have plenty of time."

"Right…" Shidou's mood is down a bit, because of being played by the 'Spirit'. "… Wait, I haven't even asked for your name yet."

"…Ah right. Sorry for the late introduction." The girl puts her arms around her back as she says her name: "**I'm Emerald Heart. **Nice to meet you."

* * *

**Chapter 1 end!**

**I'm withholding from spoiling too much. But, if you have followed my so far, you will know who these new characters are.**

**For now, that's it. See you in the next chapters!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, it seems I will temporarily focus on this story first, because it DOES have an impact on the OCs' backgrounds.**

**A little note for everyone: all BOLD details are basically spoilers to those who has followed me so far. For newcomers, keep those details in mind, because it will make sense in the future.**

**With that out, let's get to the main story!**

* * *

"So… where are we going now?" Emerald asks Shidou, as they're joining the citizens that come out of the underground hiding bases.

"I need to return to the school first to get someone. Mind you, she's a Spirit." The boy answers, as he leads the girl to his school.

"By the way, how successful are you in this? How many have you saved?"

"Eh… Actually, I was just in this a few days ago."

"So she's your first then?" Emerald asks with a gleeful smile on her face.

"Yes, my first success mission." Shidou replies… then notices how the girl's smiling at him. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." The girl turns to another way while hiding her smile under her hand.

"Okay…" Shidou says awkwardly, not understanding what Emerald is implying.

A few minutes later, they manage to reach a base near the school, as the students are pouring out of the safe location. Shidou then spots the one he needs to find: "Tohka! Over here!" The girl spots him and she rushes to him immediately. "Are you okay?"

"I should ask you that, Shidou!" Tohka asks worriedly. Then, she notices Emerald standing next to him, and she casts Shidou a look of disbelief: "Shidou, you left me just to meet with someone…"

"You are miss Tohka, right?" Emerald interrupts, as Tohka turns to look at her. "My name is Emerald Heart. Nice to meet you." She then points at her lips and mouths 'I'm a Spirit' under her breath.

"She was the cause of the spacequake, like you." Shidou whispers into Tohka's ears, earning a nod of understanding from the Spirit. "We should head back to my home now. Let's go."

* * *

Upon reaching Itsuka's residence, Shidou finds out that Kotori and Reine are already in the house waiting for his return. The girls take a seat for themselves in the living room, as Shidou starts preparing some tea for everyone. Kotori then asks Emerald: "I have to say, we're very surprised that you know about modern technology. May I ask what you are, if you're not a Spirit?"

"Not a Spirit? I thought you said that you're one?" Tohka asks the girl confusingly.

"Shidou is about to be scolded by you, so I have to move first. Although, my appearance did cause the spacequake, albeit not voluntarily."

"None of the Spirits' appearances are, miss Emerald." Reine says. "You seem to know about the Spirit, despite just being here for the first time…"

"I don't know." Emerald interrupts. "I was informed that there is a number of individuals that **obtained power similar to me.** How different, that's what I have to find out by myself."

"Obtained?" All the girls asks at once. And Reine quickly follows: "The Spirit's power is not their nature?"

"That, I do not know. The one who informed me is… a person who likes mysteries. He's not someone you can really get a straight answer unless he decides to do so."

"Sounds like some higher-ups here." Kotori comments. "Scratch that, that's all the higher-ups."

"I can relate. Thank you mister Shidou." The boy has done preparing the tea and some treats, as he brings it to the living room.

"You're welcome." After putting the tray down, Shidou takes a seat and joins the conversation. "May I ask this? If you're not a Spirit, then what are you?"

"…I can't say much about it. But, you could say that I'm somewhat similar to a Spirit in terms of power." That's the closest thing Emerald could say to not reveal herself much.

Tohka, after consuming a few candies, asks: "So you're going to join school too?"

Emerald giggles at Tohka's expression during her question, and she answers: "I have passed the age to study in a high school. Maybe I will find a job nearby, and rent somewhere…"

"How about joining our organization?" Kotori offers. "Right now, AST is registering you as a Spirit, so it could be a problem if you accidentally meet one of their members. With Ratatoskr's help, you could stay here with no problems."

Emerald nods. "Thank you very much for the offer. However, I don't believe I should stay with you here…"

"We could provide a new residence, in case more Spirits show up." Reine continues. "About jobs, you could help us with our cause."

"… Your objective is to save these Spirits…" Emerald remembers her conversation with Shidou about the organization's purpose. "Then, I'm in."

"Great." Kotori smiles. "Our job would be easier now. About…"

"However, I do have a request to ask." Emerald interrupts. "As you have heard, I'm looking for a person." She draws out a picture from… somewhere, before giving it to Reine. "The person who asked me for the help told me that she's both easy and hard to find."

"Then he's right." Reine replies. "She's a rare case like you, but, **her appearances usually involved into some bad cases of brutal beatdowns or killings,** **but the latter were also rare, and the victims were usually criminals**."

"…**Just like him…**" Emerald says quietly under her breath. Then she replies with a grateful smile: "Then, if you have anything on her, please tell me."

"We will." Kotori says, before pulling out a lollipop and she's about to put it in her mouth before Shidou snatches it out of her hand. "HEY!"

"You can eat the candies in the plate, but no lollipops." Shidou says, not surprised at her addict in lollipops.

As Kotori's sulking, Tohka then asks: "Hey, Emerald. Who is the person you kept talking about? Is he a friend of yours?"

"He is. Though, he's not someone we could call a 'normal' friend."

"Elaborate." Reine says, curious at how she said it.

"He's… extraordinary and paradoxical, as the best way to describe him." Emerald answers.

Kotori: "Like?"

"He can receive a bullet shot to the head without complaining, but he could immediately cry if he stumbles his toes into something." That earns her looks of stupidity from the others. "We can't really understand him either, even though he's around for so long."

"Like Tohka with the food then." Shidou says, earning a pout from the said girl.

Some kind of ringtone suddenly rings up in the air, causing everyone to look around to find the source, then focus on Emerald as she pulls out her phone. "He's calling…" She then puts the phone on the table, as a screen pops up in the air…

And everyone gasps in surprise. The call is made with the calling person… being under the bottom of some kind of water body, with chains binding over his body. His black short hair is floating up a bit, with his glasses slightly move up as well, and his black eyes are narrowing in annoyance towards the camera. Then, he asks, somehow his voice's not affected by the water: "Emerald, have you found her?"

Emerald sighs. "Yes and no. She's indeed here, but it will be difficult to exactly find her." She then changes the subject: "**Did she turn into Yandere again?**"

"**Yangire, to be exact.** After finding 'that' out, she just practically threw everything at us." Then, a mine slowly sinks down and lands right next to him, beeping dangerously. "…Who the hell provided her this?" Some more land down around him, then he looks up… and says: "Well, I will call you in the future. For now…" The call abruptly ends, and the screen disappears.

Emerald sighs then pockets her phone, and notices the looks of horror from everyone. She immediately assures them: "Don't worry, he will survive."

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM?" Shidou shouts in shock. "Don't tell me it's normal in your place?"

"If those things are applied ON him, then yes." Emerald replies. "On the others, however… don't even THINK of doing so. He would be Death itself if you danger anyone other than him."

Everyone shivers when Emerald describes the person's character. Except Tohka. "So he's going to be okay?"

"Kinda. Not sure if he could survive her 'wrath'. Then again, **Kuro** has many ways to deal with things." Emerald doubts Kuro would die… again. But still… "Anyway, what time is it now?"

* * *

Nighttime

"How was your first day going, my dear sister?"

"Not much, Big Sis. The greeting was filled with machine guns, though."

"*Sigh* I know Kuro has warned me, but… I was so worried."

"*Giggle* I'm sure he would wipe everyone out if he knows they're dangerous to us."

"So… if Kuro said that you're not fit to be a student, then what can you do?"

"Apparently this organization is planning to save the Spirits by… make them 'fall in love' with a boy named Itsuka Shidou."

"That… certainly sounds like a dating game… Are you going to join in as well?"

"For fun, then yes. Don't tell it to **her** though. She would be very upset…"

"At you, or at him? *Giggle* I'm guessing you're saying about the latter."

"You can guess. I'm also tasked to help him saving those Spirits as well, since I told them that I'm as good as you are in these types of games."

"That's my Sis. Also, can you send me these games? I would like to give them a test."

"I will send you right away."

"Also… about whom Kuro's looking for…"

"It's going to be hard, but these guys will try their best…"

"Then he will appear, right? Typical."

"That's our Kuro."

* * *

A day later, after some searches around, Emerald managed to find a job in a bookstore near to Shidou's school. With that, she could easily get in touch with him and the Spirits, while keeping herself hidden.

"Strange? Why is it raining now?" The shopkeeper asks, confused at the sudden change of weather.

It is two days after Emerald got the job. And it's just near the end of her shift. She looks through the window of the store before checking the weather forecast app in her phone. "Strange indeed. The forecast said that it's going to be sunny all day."

"Anyway, I'm closing a little sooner. I need to get to the mall to meet my friends."

"Then I should leave as well. Goodbye."

With her umbrella out, Emerald starts walking back to Itsuka's home, or rather, the house next to it. Though, during the walk, she decides to take a short turn to a groceries store and buys a couple of food…

When she grabs one of the bento boxes, her eyes make a contact with Origami's. The AST soldier backs away immediately, remembering the face of the escape 'Spirit'. "You…"

Seeing her reactions, Emerald could guess that the girl knows her… in a bad way. "Um… Do I know you?"

Origami's gaze hardens. "The new Spirit… how did you get here?"

"… Ah, you're from the group that tried to shot me, right?" Emerald says in a low tone, so the customers nearby wouldn't hear it and freak out.

"… You are a Spirit. Your very existence dangers us."

"And I find it hard to believe." Emerald walks a bit closer to Origami and lowers her upper body down so their eyes are on the same level. "You attacked us on sight, and assumed that the destructions were caused by us. Yes, it might be true that our arrivals caused those spacequakes, but we never had any intentions in destroying the world."

"I find that hard to believe. Every time your kind showed up, it filled with dead people."

"Like I said, we didn't have the intentions. Our travels simply did so for some reasons."

"You…" The white-haired girl grits her teeth in anger. "Because of you… your kind… my parents…"

"So that's why." Now that's something she has heard a lot of time. She then stands up and re-grabs the box and puts it into her basket. "My apology for bringing that bad memories up."

"You should." Origami straights herself up. Even though she wants to kill the 'Spirit' right here and now, she doesn't have her equipment, and there are people around. "We all have our sight on you, Goddess."

Now that catches her attention. She turns away from the AST soldier while saying: "Goddess, huh? I wonder why you give me that title… but, I guess I'm a little appreciated for that." Leaving a surprised Origami behind, she goes to the counter and pays for the stuffs, before leaving the store and heading back to where she lives now.

"That's slick of you, miss Emerald." The voice of the Vice Commander can be heard from the earpiece on her left ear.

"That's just something I learnt from my Big Sis. Who's that girl?"

"A top-tier student, same could be said in her AST squad. Shidou's self-proclaimed girlfriend, but she didn't say it out loud."

"A huge crush for our boy? Do you know why she's in love with her?"

"Unfortunately, that's a no. Though, it's not something you really concerned, right?"

"Correct. If you can, please give me some details about her past."

"It will be in your computer when you return. Have a good day."

"The same to you." She then looks up to the raining sky while saying to herself: "… Even though the rain's unexpected, it does bring out the right atmosphere. Well, let's return before Kotori has some reasons to pull me into her house."

* * *

**Chapter 2 end!**

**Yeah, super-predictable. Kuro's also involved here. And I think you guys can guess who Emerald is now.**

**The next one will be Hermit's act. See you in the next chapters!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So yeah, I'm planning to finish AT LEAST Arc 1 of Date A Live, could be more, before I move to other stories of mine. If any of my followers read this, my apology for the delay of the other stories.**

**Before the chapter starts:**

**To Nachox1: Thanks for the understanding. Although, may I ask what 'that incredible fic mentioning the crossover' you mentioned is?**

**With that out, let's get to the third chapter!**

* * *

A few days later

"Another spacequake?" Emerald asks in confusion, as the alarms go off everywhere.

"It's increasing these days… Let's head to the safe hideout…" The shopkeeper immediately starts closing the store before running off.

"I need to find a few friends of mine. Wish you be safe."

"To you too!"

Upon the figure of the store owner out of her sight, Emerald taps on her phone and calls the Fraxinus. "Is the spacequake anywhere near me?"

"A klick to your east being the center of the blast. What are you planning?" Kotori asks.

"A little observation. I want to see why the spacequake kept occurring." With that, the girl runs straight towards the direction of the supposed spacequake.

"Be careful. You have seen what happened when you appeared."

"It's not something I couldn't handle."

Three minutes later, the spacequake happens, and Emerald stops her running as she feels the force of the event passing through her. Then, the nearby buildings collapse, causing the dust to mix into the wind that temporarily blocks her vision. Using a Wind Spell, she wipes those dust away and gives herself a clear view to the center of the destruction. As she expects, a new Spirit is standing in the middle of the crater. Based on how young the girl looks, Emerald suspects the Spirit being around Rom and Ram's physical age at most, with her personality being either of them. Her expression looks bland, and she doesn't look like the type to fight…

"Watch out! AST teams are aiming at her AND you!" Immediately on her guard, Emerald looks up to see the warning Kotori just sent her. Quickly protecting herself with a Barrier Spell, she takes a run to the new Spirit and tries to somewhat get her out of the mess. However, the new Spirit has already flown up to the sky while dodging the bullets that try to kill her. Seeing the small girl being agile enough, Emerald decides to stop fearing for the Spirit and instead drawing attentions to her.

And that's an easy task, as she sends multiple mini-sized Sylhet Spears, dangerously gazing over the AST members. Many of them shift their attentions from the young Spirit and start focusing their fire on Emerald. Casing Assam Link on herself, she starts ziczac-ing on the road to avoid getting hit. However, one of the missiles knocks her off the ground, making her lose her footing and fall on the street. All bullets then start concentrating on the protecting sphere, and slowly and steady, the sphere starts to break…

The new Spirit suddenly flies towards Emerald, passes through the sphere much to AST's surprise, and grabs Emerald before flying up with the older girl in her hands. Thanks to that, the sphere slowly regenerates itself, and the duo is safe again from the attacks from AST. However, the Spirit doesn't want to take another risk, so she immediately hides herself and Emerald into a mall… a very familiar mall.

And of course, the two are temporarily safe. After landing, Emerald dispels the protection spell before saying: "Thank you very much for saving me."

"It's nothing! You did save Yoshinon before, so this is Yoshinon's thank!" Hearing the… uncharacteristic voice, in Emerald's opinion, she turns to see if the girl really speaks… only to see the bunny doll in her left opening its mouth. "But, if you're not with them, then why were you on the road?"

Normally, she would ask why the girl didn't speak for herself, if she didn't detect a second appearance of 'soul' in the doll, being similar to the girl and yet different. 'Soul-linking? The girl could do that?' Emerald thinks to herself, before replying: "I was in the same position as yours before. Also, they marked me as an enemy, like you. And… you don't look like the type to attack anyone."

"Then you're Yoshinon's friend alright!" The doll claps his hands, while the girl shows little to no change on her face. "Ah right, I forgot to introduce myself! Yoshinon's name is Yoshinon! Isn't it cute?"

"It's very cute." Emerald smiles back. 'That's… like Ram saying in third person.' "My name is Emerald. I just…"

"Emerald! Are you alright?" The girls turn to the stairs, where Shidou is starting to run up to them. "Did you two get hurt?"

"We're fine." Emerald assures the boy, which makes him sigh in relief.

"Aren't you the lucky pervert, Big Bro?" Yoshinon suddenly speaks up, causing Shidou to look at the bunny in disbelief.

Emerald notices the way the Spirit look at Shidou being a little scared, so she asks: "Yoshinon, have you met him before?"

"Ah, Yoshinon was playing in the shrine when we saw him." The doll explains. "He was touching Yoshinon all over the places, though."

Emerald immediately sends a glare of suspicion towards Shidou, causing him to explain in panic: "She fell on the ground, so I planned to help her standing up, that's all!"

"So he's your friend, miss Emerald?" Yoshinon asks.

"Ah, right. Shidou, this is Yoshinon." Emerald says, pointing SPECIFICALLY towards the doll. "Yoshinon, that's Itsuka Shidou. He's helping us avoiding the people shooting us before." She then quickly sends a mental note that then displays to the crew of Fraxinus: "Tell Shidou that Yoshinon is the name of the doll, not the girl herself."

Shidou greets back as he walks a bit closer. "Hello, Yoshinon. Is…" Luckily, Kotori halts him and tells him what Emerald wanted to tell him. He gets the note, then asks Yoshinon again: "May I ask…"

"Wait." Emerald stops him, as she hides behind the pillar so she won't be seen from outside. She then peaks out and sees the two AST members standing on the building nearby. "Everyone, get out of the sight of the window."

The two immediately follow the order. Yoshinon asks: "What are you planning, miss Emerald?"

"Planning on how we can get out without being shot." Pulling her phone out, she starts checking her inventory to see what she could use for this…

"Can't we just use that sphere of yours?" Shidou asks in confusion.

"It drains my mana. And it won't help much stopping concentrate fires..."

Suddenly, the floor below them gives in, and the trio falls to the first floor, with the Spirit being in Shidou's arms. Emerald immediately steadies herself up and stands up with the support of her staff. "Everyone alright?"

"Hurt, but still alive." Being the Spirit's 'landing zone', Shidou receives pains from both the fall and the girl's collision on his body. And thanks to the Spirit power in him, the pain slowly subdues.

She then notices the AST starting to close in, so she raises up her staff and summons tree vines from the ground and lets them climb everywhere between the trio and the pursuers, stopping AST from approaching them. "Shidou, grab the girl and make a run for it."

"Got it! Let's go!" Helping the Spirit standing up, the boy then pulls her out of the harm way and they run towards another exit of the mall, while Emerald quickly follows behind while trying to make sure the AST is slowed down.

* * *

"She dropped her friend?" Kotori asks from the bridge. "You mean the doll?"

"Yeah. After that falling. Though, we can't return anymore, not until the place is fixed, and the JGSDF would cover everything up." Emerald talks through the phone, as Shidou's trying to stop the Spirit from crying. The three have managed to cut off the pursuers, but then they found out that Yoshinon is not with the Spirit anymore.

"Yoshinon…" The Spirit mumbles, as she pulls her hood lower to hide her scared face.

"It's alright, it's alright. We will find him for you, okay?" Shidou is appeasing the girl as best as he could, but it proves to be a little difficult.

Then, a grumbling sound can be heard, as Emerald turns to see the Spirit's face redden up in embarrassment. "Someone is hungry." She says, teasingly. That gets the hood to be pulled down even lower.

"Guess she has reached the limit." Kotori says through the Fraxinus. "How about you two take her to somewhere and grab something for dinner?"

"I don't know. Seems like the stores are deserted for now." Shidou replies, as he looks around to see the closed stores and debris.

"How about you take her to your house and make dinner?" Emerald suggests. "I'm going to get Tohka to join as well. Kotori, how about you and Reine?"

"Well, if Shidou can withstand us…" Kotori says jokingly.

"Okay, okay." Shidou chuckles. "I will make dinner for everyone."

…

"So that's why." Kotori says, after hearing how important Yoshinon is to the Spirit, who revealed her name to be Yoshino. "He's basically what you want yourself to be."

"Now that's an ideal I like." Shidou says while preparing the dinner.

That earns the Itsuka's siblings Yoshino's blush face. "It's… the first time somebody agreed with me about…"

"… So you're like Rom, and Yoshinon is like Ram. Got it." Emerald notes to herself, which catches Tohka's attention. Upon noticing that, Emerald asks the Spirit: "You want to know who they are?" A nod is her response. The girl pulls out her phone and starts checking if she could show an appropriate picture. "Ah, here." She then shows it to everyone the time when the Candidates of Lowee were practicing some spells with a female mage. "The one in pink is Ram, and the younger blue is Rom. They're nearly inseparable."

"They look so happy…" Yoshino comments on the photo, seeing everyone's smiling brightly.

"Come to think of it, you never told us where you came from. Mind giving us some background?" Reine asks, earning nods from the others.

"Well… if you want to." Emerald scratches her head, then starts: "Alright, the first thing is about our world…"

Sorry, but please go and play Neptunia. I'm not going to write that series down in a two-to-three-kay-word chapter. Though I will write out what changed compared to the original.

"…" After telling the story, Emerald earns blank stares from everyone, including Yoshino who's super confused as well.

"Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but for now, just accept it." Emerald says nervously. Now she feels how awkward Kuro always felt when he had to spill out the beans. How he managed to keep a straight face… and how he explained how he did that was still beyond her imagination.

"The food is ready everyone." Shidou decides to break the ice. With that, everyone gathers around the dining table and starts digging in. He then asks Emerald: "So Heart isn't actually your last name?"

"From our sister's generation till now, nobody really has a last name. The only exception is Uzume, who's from about thousands of years in the past. And Kuro, if we count his old name…"

"But still, to hear that **you're one of the Goddesses…**" Reine continues. "You must have really high respect from your people."

"Kind of. I don't like bragging about it, though."

"You even **helped a neighbor to deal with…**"

"It's just personal matter, Kotori. It's absolutely not related to any of me being a Goddess." After swallowing, Emerald then offers: "You know, if things goes smoothly, maybe I could invite you to visit my world."

Now that gets Tohka to hype up a little bit, and Yoshino as well. But, the latter then remembers: "But, I have to get Yoshinon…"

"I'm sure he's not going to be harmed… I think. After all, he's a Hero, right?" Emerald plans to say 'doll', but then she remembers how Neptune dealt with the babies before, so she changes it.

"…Right." Yoshino smiles up, as she continues enjoying the food the Itsuka brother provided. "It's delicious!"

* * *

The next day

"That blizzard…" Emerald says, as she focuses on the said thing in the middle of the city. "Damn it. I thought we already supported Yoshino enough, and yet…"

To help the girl stabilizing her conditions, everyone has agreed to let her stay for the night. They have managed to comfort the girl that they would find Yoshinon in no time, and the girl agreed. The Spirit then slept in the house Ratatoskr provided, with Emerald checking on her occasionally. However… in the morning, she just disappeared. Both Fraxinus and Emerald double-checked all the cameras, and they could only conclude that: 'someone' or 'something' took her away via teleportation. The former immediately went for a scan around the city to see if they could find her, and the latter excused herself to the shopkeeper to go check from the ground. After school, Tohka also joined with Emerald in searching for her, while Shidou went to Origami's home after receiving info that Yoshinon was there.

Then, Yoshino appeared in another spacequake and AST returned to try to kill her. This time, the Spirit called out her Angel as it attacked everything on-sight. Emerald had to stay far away while observing from the top of a building, watching the AST members being frozen in their barrier, though she could still feel their life signals, so they must still be alive.

…Turning off everything that could send her words to Fraxinus, she speaks to herself: "You're the only one that could be responsible to this."

"My sincere apology." A man's voice can be heard behind Emerald. "However, this is my order. And I see nothing wrong in it."

"Nothing wrong, **or it's because this must happen?**"

"Both. Shidou WILL succeed, and that's what we're after. YOURS, as well."

Emerald sighs. "Just, give me a warning next time."

"Depends if **he **wants you to know or not." A second later, the Goddess feels the present of the man vanish.

"… Let's give Shidou some time to reach to Yoshino." Jumping off the building and landing on the ground, she starts rushing towards the AST team on the ground.

Immediately noticing the 'Spirit', AST aims their weapons towards Emerald, who decides to call up the best defensive sphere she could mutter. She then thinks of one spell that could stop them… when she notices Origami going in with a sword and trying to slash her. "Don't bother. You have no chance to get past this."

"Your protection cracked before. We could do it again." Origami counters.

"Only because I'm a little too carefree. This time, no mistakes will be made." Stabbing her staff on the ground, she calls out fire that burns the whole area around her, causing the AST to step back. "And I can't let you hurt the innocent girl anymore."

"Innocent? All Spirits are dangerous! Including you!" Using her Realizer, Origami drops a whole building on top of Emerald.

"One person's action doesn't represent the whole race." An explosion occurs in the bottom of the building, blasting the debris away, and it shows an unharmed Emerald. "If you want to release your hatred, do it on the right person."

"You have no right to lecture me!" Closing in again, Origami slashes her sword violently on the sphere, only for her attacks to bounce away harmlessly.

"Having one or not, you're only ruining yourself." Emerald sighs. "And why bother attacking me anyway if I don't even want to fight you in the first place?"

"And let you cause those spacequakes again? No chance!"

"*Sigh* I'm hoping that you're more cooperative than the others." Her phone then rings up, and she answers, ignoring the firing on her: "Yes?"

"Do you need some help?" Kotori says, concern filled in her voice.

"Not really. Where's Shidou?"

"He stepped right into that blizzard, with Yoshinon in his hands."

"So, I just have to ride them off, huh? Got it." Closing her phone, Emerald then tilts her head and gives AST a smile. "Let us race for a while, shall we?"

It causes a moment for the AST to be confused, since they never saw her flying before. Then, a burst of light from Emerald causes everyone surrounding her to raise their arms and block the light. After it dies down, they see a completely new person replacing the previous 'Spirit'. This woman has long green hair flailing freely in the wind, and her eyes are purple with power symbols replacing the usual pupils. Her outfit is just an emerald bodysuit, which resembles a swimsuit for some 'odd' reasons, as there are two pairs of purple wings behind her back. Her weapon in hand is a metallic staff, which has a circle on top with a crystal in the middle.

"None of us wants to use it much, since it drains our power a bit fast…" The woman's voice, which is very mature, snaps the AST back to reality. "However, for the greater good…" She then swings her staff above her, and calls out a barrage of icicles around her, narrowly missing the soldiers on purpose. She then says: "Try to catch me, if you can." And she flies away with high speed, causing the AST to quickly dispatch and try to chase her.

* * *

After Shidou manages to seal Yoshino's power, everything returns back to normal…

Normal enough, that a certain Spirit doesn't have the mood to kill something, as she saw what happened from afar on top of a building.

"Ara ara. They followed me here. **I thought this is what it's meant to happen.** I hope they understand why I did so… and that I won't be grounded soon." The Spirit then disappears in a portal, leaving no traces of her behind.

* * *

**Chapter 3 end!**

**So yeah, unless you're completely new to Date A Live, the person Kuro and Emerald are after is the Third Spirit. Though...**

**The next chapter will be out soon. See you all then!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Like I said, I'm rushing this story.**

**To Nachox1: You mean the collaboration of Date A Live Spirit Pledge and Neptunia? I saw it, but the game's not interested enough to me. Though, that's a good sight that it might happen in another form of media.**

**With that out, let's get to the main chapter!**

* * *

A few days later

"No matter how you look at it, it's like a 'Bring your kids to work' day." Masaomi says, chuckle at one of the scenes observed from Fraxinus. His comment earns nods from literally everyone.

After Yoshino's power was sealed, she's now living with Tohka and Emerald in the new apartment. However, since the risk of AST accidentally stumbling to them is high, they can't let the young Spirit stay at home alone while everyone is away, even with Fraxinus' observation. Then, Emerald suggested to bring the girl with her to the shop she's working, so she could keep a closer contact to her. And that offer's approved.

And now, seeing the small girl following the other girl around and helping her putting the books on the shelves, everyone's immediately reminded of that kind of event.

"More like the aunt taking her niece to work. But it's still the same."

"Same idea, Reine." Kotori agrees. "But, at least now we won't have to be too worried about our current Spirit. Although…" The camera changes the scene where the Third Spirit just entered the new class. "We have a new problem."

"Should we warn miss Emerald immediately?" The Vice Commander asks.

"Hm… not now. We have to see what the Spirit is planning…** can we even call her a Spirit anymore?**"

…

After school's hour ends, Kurumi has asked Shidou to show her around the school, since she is 'unfamiliar with the place'. With the order from Fraxinus, more likely from Kotori, the boy has to accept it and thus he's doing it right now with Kurumi following him side-by-side.

And they do not notice the two 'stalkers' hiding themselves behind any covers they can find. Origami narrows her eyebrows in suspicion: "What is that Spirit doing here? I can't let other girls involve with Shidou." She then notices Tohka tapping on her phone. "What are you doing?"

"Calling someone." After dialing the right number, Tohka waits for the call to connect. Once the other side picks up, she asks: "Emerald, can you hear me? That Spirit is in the school. What can we do?"

Origami is a little alarmed, but she's also curious on why Princess is calling Goddess, so she waits.

"… Well, Shidou's giving her a walk around the school… EH? Leave them be? I thought you said she's dangerous… Just follow them? We're doing that now… Okay…" Ending the call, Tohka sighs. "Emerald you idiot."

"Why did you call Goddess?" Origami asks immediately.

"You mean Emerald? She's also after her…" Tohka points her fingers towards the duo… only to see them walking further away. "Quick, follow them!"

…

"What are those two doing?" Kotori raises her eyebrow curiously, as the detection system finds out that Origami and Tohka are stalking Kurumi and Shidou in a comical way. "But, Emerald said to leave the Spirit be with Shidou…"

"She did say that **the Spirit wouldn't dare to hurt normal citizens. **But, the Spirit could cause chaos at any moment." Reine says, summarizing a few details Emerald gave them about the Third Spirit.

"She introduced herself as a Spirit, so she must know something about us." Kannazuki says. "But, how much does she know?"

"Our objective now is to get as much info out as possible. Shidou, ask her about the Spirit, and DON'T pretend to not know about it." Kotori orders, knowing that hiding now is pointless.

Shidou, after receiving the order, sighs. That causes Kurumi to ask in curiosity: "What's wrong?"

"Kurumi…" Shidou faces her directly and starts questioning: "Do you remember when you introduced yourself before the class? Why did you call yourself a Spirit?"

"Ara, don't pretend that you don't know." Kurumi smirks.

"I'm not pretending that I don't know. I just want to know why you did it. If what Emerald told us was right, you're already aware of my position."

"I am." Kurumi admits. "And I'm aware that they're finding my tracks as well. I just wanted to spook you a little in the class."

"…She doesn't seem to be lying." Kotori says, watching the emotion detection scanning the Spirit.

"Although, I have to say that you interest me." Shidou takes a small step back because of Kurumi leaning a bit too close to him. "**Especially about your history, and your sisters.**"

"Sisters?" Both Kotori and Shidou ask at the same time.

"Oh, you didn't know? Well, I can't blame it. **You have no memories of that moment for now.**"

"Memories?" Shidou asks in confusion.

"You will know soon, eventually." Kurumi then focuses on the closet nearby. "You two can get out of that place."

That causes Shidou to turn to the place, just in time to see the stalkers falling out of it. "Tohka? Origami? What are you doing there?"

"That should be our question!" Tohka shouts after standing up. "Why would you just let her lead you around like that?"

"I can't let her out of sight." Origami says half-truly. She concerns more about Shidou than the Spirit.

…

"… Now I think about it…" Kotori notices a strange thing. "Both Emerald and Kurumi's mood values never went down below half. Was she really expecting something like this to happen?"

"You're saying that…" Reine questions. "Both of them knew our operation beforehand? I would expect Nightmare to know since she's around for a while, but Emerald?"

"Remember the paper? The person who got sunk before must know something about us." Kotori concludes.

…

Kurumi giggles at their reasons. She then wraps her arms around Shidou's right arm, much to the duo's surprise, and says: "How about you two join us as well? Maybe there are some places that we could join this trip together."

Instantly, Origami rushes towards Shidou and wraps her arms around the remaining arm. "Let's go."

"HEY! How about me!" Tohka jumps once in annoyance, before running behind Shidou and wraps her arms around his neck, catching him off guard. "Alright! Let's go!"

'Why…' Shidou screams in his mind, not expecting this to happen. However, his body does the work for him, as he slowly leads them to another place. "Okay, okay. Let's get to somewhere else…"

Meanwhile, Kurumi giggles quietly next to them. It's worth her day.

* * *

After the trip ends, Kurumi thanks Shidou and Tohka (Origami went off early) and walks herself back to her home. However, she stops when she sees someone approaching her. She then recognizes the face, as she smirks: "Ara ara, look who's coming. I don't think I have done anything in recent days."

"And that's suspicious." The girl with blue hair stops a few steps before her, then replies: "Normally, we would find people getting beaten up, or even killed. What are you planning, Nightmare?"

"Fufu, why are you always assuming everything?" **Her right blue eye** glows up dangerously. Under her bang, something glows up in a dark color as well. "But, who am I really talking about? You, the AST, DEM, or even above?"

"We have every reason to destroy the Spirits, including you." The AST member threatens. "You're one of the two slipping out of radar every time, and we need to…"

"It's a bit late, you two. Argue in another day, please." The AST member looks behind Kurumi's back while the Spirit turn back, to see Emerald holding groceries bags, with Yoshino hiding timidly behind her. "And you're scaring the little girl here."

Kurumi's eyes immediately stop glowing, as she smiles sincerely and apologizes: "I'm sorry, little girl. Maybe I should leave then." With that, Kurumi vanishes out of thin air, surprising the Spirit of Ice.

Emerald sighs, then asks the girl who's a bit surprised as well: "So, you're one of them as well?"

The girl's gaze hardens. "Goddess. You were helping Hermit back then…"

"Hey, your fault for attacking the innocent girl." Emerald counters. A bus then drives pass them and stops at the bus-stop behind the girl from AST. "I don't want to make a mess here, so you better not attack me."

"I don't plan to." The girl admits. "I am finding someone else…"

"Hey, Emerald, Yoshino!" Getting out of the bus, Shidou calls out for the girls.

Okay, let's face it, I'm going to call out Emerald's real occupation.

**The CPU Candidate of Leanbox** uses her free hand to wave at the boy. "Hey, Shidou! Let's return to your place and have the dinner there!"

"Okay!" Shidou then sees the other girl turning to him with a surprise face. "Hey Emerald, is this your friend?"

"… Big Bro?" The girl asks, causing both sides to turn silence.

Then shout: "WHAT?"

…

After returning to Itsuka's residence, the girl introduces herself to be Takamiya Mana, Shidou's true sister. Then, some talks after memory loses of both siblings, it leads to…

"Being blood related doesn't mean anything! Real siblings can't even get married!" That one sentence causes everyone to look at Kotori in confusion, and the girl immediately blushes, trying to defuse it…

"Sounds like you have something in your mind there, Kotori." Emerald teases the girl.

"HEY! You know it's true!" Kotori protests, only to dig her hole deeper.

"Not to Kuro's ideal though." Emerald laughs. She then asks Mana: "So, where are you living now? Shidou could visit you often, right?"

"Eh… for that… I'm living in a little special dormitory…" Mana bluffs, trying to get away…

"Is it the same place with Origami?" That one question immediately shuts Mana up.

Kotori immediately connects the dots: "Wait, you are an AST member?" That causes everyone to stumble back in surprise.

"…Yes, I am." Mana shows the truth. "So we're now enemies…"

"Of course not." The girl immediately turns to Goddess. "You being AST and you being Shidou's sister are two different things. Besides, we don't really want to fight you anyway. Just relax and enjoy dinner with us."

Mana bites her lower lip. This isn't supposed to happen in her plan. She then says: "I can't disobey orders…"

"Are you on duty or not?"

"…No."

"Then there's nothing to worry about." Emerald then stands up and walks into the kitchen. "Just sit down and talk with your brother. I will make dinner for everyone."

"Hey! Let me help too!" Tohka, snapping out of shock, follows Emerald quickly.

"Well… she's correct." Shidou admits. "Join the dinner with us. It's been a long time we haven't met, so…"

"…I… I can't…"

"*Sigh* Now you suddenly turn mellow." Kotori says. "Just, stop restraining yourself. Today should be a good day to celebrate for you two's reunion."

"That's right! We should have a small party for it!" Yoshinon says excitedly.

"…You… really don't mind?" Mana says shakily.

"We have a lot of Spirits here. I don't think anyone's dumb enough to attack this place." Kotori replies. "Also, family is always important than everything else."

* * *

Weekend

"Are you sure about it?" Kotori asks worriedly. "I mean, thanks for helping Shidou out, but Nightmare is a dangerous Spirit…"

"Don't worry, I could handle it." Emerald speaks through the earpiece Fraxinus provided her. "She won't harm me, that's one thing we could ease up for."

"But still, Shidou is having two dates at the same time. Origami could intercept both of yours if you handle it poorly."

"Well, that's why we have you on our side, right?" Emerald says, giggling.

"Ara ara, you're here early." Turning back, the Goddess sees Kurumi walking to her in her usual attire. "It's a little strange that you would replace Shidou's place."

Emerald smiles. "Well, I think I would make RED feel a little jealous a bit once I show her our 'date'."

"Oh she will." Much to Fraxinus' surprise, the two are talking with the level of friendship that they didn't think they could achieve. "Hey, how about we head to the lingerie shop first?"

That causes Emerald to face-palm while chuckling: "Really? Of all places?"

"You know why." The Spirit giggles. "Anyway, let's go."

…

"… Reine, have you found some more details about Nightmare?" Kotori asks, clearly doesn't know how to feel about the events occurring.

"… Nothing other than the reports of her beating people up and killing some. However, there's something interest: When fighting the AST or DEM, she never dealt a fatal hit. Or rather, the 'fatal hits' were not fatal at all."

"Elaborate." Turning serious, the Vice Commander orders.

"Other than bruisers or bone cracking, even a point-blank shot from Nightmare's weapon didn't even decapitate any soldiers' heads, while it couldn't be said the same to the criminals she truly killed. Also… ONLY when she fought the AST or DEM would she have Astral Dress on."

"So she could kill normal human with her power without even calling out the Astral Dress…" Kurumi watches as the two 'Spirits' enjoying their shopping time. "… Change Nightmare's status from Spirit to Unknown. I was about to state her to be a goddess like Emerald, but her power is too off-set."

"Roger that."

…

Time skip

"So, **why didn't you tell them before you went here? Isn't it better to notice them first?**" Emerald asks Kurumi, as they're relaxing on a bench in the park.

"Hm… **I guess I am like him at that point.**" Kurumi giggles, as she takes another bite on her chocolate ice cream.

"People would say that **you're like her more than him**."

"Maybe." Then the two notice some sorts of sound in the trees. And they turn back to see a bunch of bullies shooting BB bullets towards a small kitty. That irritates both of the girls, and they stand up and walk to them. Once they're close enough, Kurumi changes to her 'Yangire' mode says: "It seems you guys are playing a fun game. Mind if we join as well?"

Emerald puts her hands behind her back, then calls out a small flashbang. "We know our ways around guns, despite our looks."

"Well…" One of the bullies says. "It seems we don't have a choice."

"You don't." Pulling the pin of the flashbang, Emerald throws it right at the middle of the bullies, and it explodes, blinding and deafening all of the bullies. Kurumi, having looked another way, doesn't get flashed, and she pulls out her weapons and rushes towards the bullies, then gives them one blast to the face to each of them. She doesn't fire lead bullets, but energy ones, and she has adjusted its damage, so the bullies only get knocked out and fallen to the ground.

"You know why I didn't tell them? I don't like seeing these guys running amok any longer." Putting her guns back, Kurumi then walks to the kitten and pats it, easing its fear.

"*Sigh* Now this part's like him." Emerald comments. She then changes the subject: "What are you going to do now? Clearly AST would notice your power spiking up."

Receiving the clothes bags from Emerald, Kurumi replies: "I guess we should depart. You better get Shidou now or he's gonna get crushed by the girls."

"Maybe." Emerald shrugs, as Kurumi disappears. She then turns at the unconscious bullies, and she calls out her staff to create a spell that attacks their mind. "That nightmare would be enough to scare them. Now…"

"What did you do to them?" Not turning back, she could feel the presence of Mana in the mech suit.

"Knock them out. Give them something to fear." Emerald replies shortly.

"Elaborate."

"Well… just a simple spell that alters their dreams. Make them review some… scary moments in their lives."

"Is it dangerous?"

"… No. At least, the person we first used on confirmed it." She then feels energy gathering in one place. "You're planning to shoot me?"

"Just parts of my job."

"Well then. Shoot."

* * *

**Chapter 4 end!**

**No, I did NOT get that info wrong. So don't question it.**

**I don't think I have anything to talk here. Until I reveal enough spoilers, this section will be short.**

**See you in the next chapters!**


	5. Chapter 5

**The first half of the spoiler is in this chapter. The next will be the rest.**

**To Synchro: Thanks for the compliment. Also, note this before you read this chapter: I never wrote down Kurumi's last name, until this. Though, there's one hint: She's very close to Kuro, my main OC.**

**With that out, let's get to the first part of the 'spoilers'!**

* * *

"Are we done?" Green Sister asks amusingly. "Surely you're not expecting to win on a one-v-one fight, are you?"

"I have killed a Spirit by myself before. I could do it again."

"Are you sure? Then why are you exhausted right now?"

After ten minutes fighting, Mana is on her feet, panting due to her power being depleted. She looks at her opponent, who's leaning on her staff casually. She retorts: "I was… just a little careless."

"Thankfully that I'm not a psychopath or so. If it's the case, you would have died." Turning back to Emerald, the Goddess sighs. "Come on now. You're really being unreasonable here. We're even helping you by dealing with those small problems. Just, leave us be."

"We won't. Your existence dangers ours."

"You really remind me of the Seven Sages. *Sigh* Just, go back and do other stuffs than chasing us." Emerald plans to walk away, before she has to raise her staff up and blocks a slash from another AST member. And now, the soldiers start circling her with their close-range weapons ready. "Please, aren't you get tired after those pointless kills?"

"It's not pointless if it's meant for our survivor!" One AST member shouts, and with that Emerald's forced to go in another fight, this time with multiple targets at once.

Even though she's one of the stronger Candidates (she only lost to Nepgear so far), it doesn't mean that she could hold on them forever. Deciding to not harm any of them, Emerald pulls out an EMP grenade and activates it, sending electricity around her that causes AST's equipment to go down, thus stopping them from attacking her. "While it's a good exercise, I don't want to draw much attention." Pulling out an Advanced Eject Button this time, she activates it and teleports herself out of the fight…

And she lands into the bridge of Fraxinus. Upon seeing the girl, Kotori walks to her side and asks in worry: "Are you okay?"

"Seen better." Emerald replies. Dropping the staff on the floor, she asks: "How's Shidou doing?"

"You can see for yourself." Reine points her finger towards the main screen. Emerald follows, and watches Shidou having the face of 'I'm so done with this' with Origami and Tohka trying to get him to their sides.

That earns a tired giggle from Emerald. "Now that's a face I'm too familiar with."

Kotori then asks: "Should we send you back home via teleportation?"

"No need." She then sees Yoshino walking in with her eyes swirling in dizzy, and immediately asks the Spirit worriedly: "Are you okay, Yoshino? What happened to you?"

"Don't worry." Reine catches the young girl in her hands, then carries her up bridal-style. "She's just a little tired from helping Shidou with his dates. I will carry her to a bed." With that, Reine leaves the main bridge with Yoshino in her arms.

"…Guess I have to make her favorite food tonight." Emerald says, smiling warmly.

* * *

Two days later

"She's not with you today?" The shopkeeper asks.

"She's visiting a friend of ours. She would have fun with them."

Another day in the bookstore.

"By the way, I saw you going out with a girl in Tengu Station last weekend. A friend of yours?"

"Oh? You were there as well?"

"Hanging out with my girls. Although, you two seemed to be a little closer than just 'normal friends'."

"Ah, that. Well, our family are friends for a long time. **She and I have played with each other when we're small.**" That's a half truth. Emerald has always been like herself now since her 'birth'.

"More reasons to say your relationship being higher than friends."

"Come on, it's not like that. Also, I already have someone."

"Now that's a surprise. Mind telling me who the lucky guy is?"

"Well, I can't tell you."

"Oh come on now. Just a little hint or so?"

"Well, there's no guy involved."

"…Wow, you… swing that way? I'm a little surprised. Guys do no good for you?"

"More like the boys don't dare to go near me."

"Really?"

"Just a little corner of my life."

Emerald's phone then rings up. She excuses herself to the shopkeeper and answers it… "Miss Emerald, please run to Shidou's school as fast as possible. Kurumi's planning to kill him."

That immediately catches her off guard. There's no way that's true. "Are you sure, Reine?"

"Positive. She kept saying about taking Shidou's life right now and even when she rendered other students unconsciously. There's no doubts about it."

Emerald puts down her phone for a moment to think about it…

"What's wrong?" The shopkeeper asks worriedly.

"… I have to go. My friend is in danger." Picking up her stuffs, Emerald answers.

"Danger?"

"She just got into an accident." One good lie is all it takes.

"I see. Please send my best wish to them."

"Thank you." Running off the bookstore, Emerald continues the conversation with Reine: "What's going on?"

"Mana's protecting Shidou right now, but she's fighting a losing fight. Origami and Tohka are fighting against Kurumi's clones or something…"

"Clones or after-images?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just answer."

"Clones. If it's just after-images, those Kurumi wouldn't dodge or block Origami and Tohka's attacks."

"… **Since when could she do so?**" It's not that she couldn't do that, but she hasn't learnt it since she could use after-images to dodge attacks.

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind that. I'm on the way."

* * *

"Ara ara, everyone's here." Kurumi says with her taunting voice. "You really want a piece of me, heh?"

"How…how could you?" Shidou says disbelievingly. "You betrayed Emerald just to keep yourself alive? Why?"

"What she doesn't know wouldn't hurt her." Kurumi smirks. She then looks at Mana, who's trying to stand up after being defeated by the Spirit, then to Origami and Tohka who just arrived. "It's a little unfair, though. Let me call some back-ups."

Immediately, clones of Nightmare appear from everyone and everything's shadows, and they restrain everyone in place. Any free clones also point their flintlocks at the 'good guy's heads, showing that Kurumi is serious in this.

"I also heard that…" Kurumi continues her speech. "Life tastes better when it's bitter. How about I give you the most despair moment in your life, Shidou?" She then raises her right arm up… and immediately the sounds of spacequake alarms flare up everyone.

"YOU WOULDN'T!" Shidou immediately pales as he recognizes what she's doing. "STOP IT!"

"Ara, look at how terrified you are…" Kurumi licks her lips, 'hungry' for his life. "But, why would I have to listen to you? Say goodbye to your classmates!" She then laughs maniacally before activating the spacequake herself.

Shidou looks up in despair that the sphere of destruction starts to expand and ready to blow up a good area surrounding him… and then disappear without a trace. "W…What?"

Kurumi, who should be surprised that her work suddenly stops, lets out a sigh. She then looks up to see the culprit. "You…"

"So you already knew about that…" Floating in the air, the Spirit of Fire glares down at Nightmare. "Not surprised since you can control one by yourself."

"Just what are you planning, Kurumi?" Floating next to her, Green Sister is not having a good mood. "You know you're pissing off a lot of people with this."

Kurumi shrugs. "You should expect something like this from me." Some of the clones disappear so she could reserve her power for the next fight. "Since you're with them now, how about I eliminate you as well?" Pointing her guns at the new duo, Kurumi taunts with her sadistic grin. "Your death will serve well for me."

"Do you stop considering her as your friend now?" Kotori glares at Green Sister, expecting one simple answer.

"Depends." And that's not what Kotori has in her mind.

"While this power is fun to use…" Kurumi's Astral Dress slowly changes its color **from red to blue**, her hair for some reasons shortens itself so that it just reaches her shoulder, **her left eye's clock-face is replaced with a nature black eye,** and then she pulls out a pair of glasses and wears it on. "If I have to fight you Emerald, I have to go all out."

"Kotori, be careful. She's very serious now." Green Sister casts Assam Link on both her and Kotori. "The speed up is temporary, so mind it carefully."

Kotori, keeping that note in mind, raises her halberd up just in time Kurumi rushes towards her with both flintlocks pointing straight at her face. Within range, Kotori slams her weapon down, only for it to go straight through the image, which disappears shortly after the hit, and hit the floor hard. She then hears a clang sound behind her, as she turns back to see Green Sister standing behind her, the staff is blocking the barrels of the guns, and then the Goddess pushes the real Kurumi back away.

"Don't trust your eyes, Kotori." Green Sister warns, as multiple Kurumi after-images start appearing. "You might be able to hit her clones, but **her specialty is how she uses after-images to distract enemies.** A single wrong predict and you're down."

"That's annoying." And it shows clearly on the Spirit of Fire's face. The duo then stand with their backs facing each other, as they see any extraordinary images to find where the real Kurumi is…

Then, much to Kotori's surprise, two barrels of flintlocks grow out of her shadow, and she narrowly dodges those close shots, before noticing the weapons disappearing into the ground. She grunts: "Damn it! She could move freely in the shadow?"

Green Sister temporarily turns back to see Kotori flying up, causing her to shout: "Get back to the ground! You're being played by her!"

"What are you…" Kurumi suddenly appears right in front of her and blasts her face with point-blank shot, knocking off some winds out of her as she immediately flies back a bit… And now she notices **a pair of** **devil wings** growing out of Kurumi's back. Kotori widens her eyes in shock. "WHAT ARE YOU?"

"**I'm your worst Nightmare!**" Kurumi laughs menacingly, and in the sky, multiple small black holes appear with guns pointing straight at her. And instantly, all fire at once, penetrating through Spirit of Fire's body and blasting her down below. The body of Kotori collides on the floor and spurts out blood from every bullet hole.

Shidou watches in terror as his adopted sister lays there, unmoving after being shot mercilessly. "No…" Kurumi then lowers herself down next to him, causing him to shout: "KURUMI! How could you do that?"

"She knew that Kotori wouldn't go down that easily." He then turns to Green Sister. "Spirit of Fire can heal herself back in a matter of seconds. Like a phoenix in their prime state."

"Damn straight you're right." Shidou then sees the same fire that blurts out of his wounds before appears on Kotori's body, healing her up. She then stands up like nothing happened. "So that's the game you want to play, huh? Megiddo!" Her halberd dismantles itself and changes into its cannon form, and she points it towards Kurumi.

Kurumi is not letting down as well, as she places the shorter flintlock behind the longer so it connects together and combines into one long rifle. The rifle then transforms itself into one advance long-range sniper, as **ice energy** slowly gathers around the head of the rifle. "Fire versus Ice. Let's see who the winner is!"

"Wait wait wait!" Shidou immediately stands between the two while holding his hands up. "Hold up! Can't we just calm down and talk about it? Kotori, wasn't the mission of Ratatoskr to solve this problem without killing the Spirits?"

"Sorry Shidou, but we have deleted her status as a Spirit already." Kotori focuses her power more in the barrel. "Move aside, Big Bro, and let us finish this."

Shidou is about to say more before Green Sister suddenly grabs him and pulls him to the safe zone. He immediately asks her: "Can't you stop them?"

"I would rather not deal with them for now. Let them finish." Green Sister says, her voice full of authority.

"Well said." Kurumi's grin gets wider. "Frozen in the ice age!"

"Burn down to ashes!" And with the last shout, both fire their weapons, as the Fire Stream heads straight to the Ice Bomb, signaling a devastating explosion. Green Sister immediately calls out her protection barrier and covers everyone not in the fight, preparing for the upcoming shockwave. The others embrace themselves as well, as they raise up their arms on instinct.

The shots are getting closer…

Until, someone appears right in the middle of the way, blocking both shots from colliding, and disintegrating them in his palms. Everyone looks at the person in disbelief, especially Kotori as she never thought that anyone could do so.

Green Sister then sees the familiar lab coat the person is wearing, so she transforms back into Emerald before saying disapprovingly: "Kuro, you could have stopped the fight in the first place."

The person turns back to the safe zone, as everyone could see his young face at the age of twenties, **wearing glasses that somehow is similar to Kurumi**. He then replies: "Hey, you know me." He turns to Kurumi and sends a glare with a sadistic grin to her: "Do you have any ideas how many problems I got because of your sudden disappearance, **Princess?**"

Kurumi, with her weapon disappeared after the spot, steps back while smiling nervously, contradicting to what she has done. Everyone then watches as she attempts to fly away, but Kuro already teleports next to her and grabs her left ear to stop her from doing so. She then starts squirming while trying to pull herself out of the grip, to no success.

Even Kotori looks at them dumbly, before walking to Emerald and asks: "What's going on here?"

"Well…" Emerald drags the word for three seconds before going to the main point: "**Kurumi has zero intentions in killing us. Those are just her acts.**"

"…Eh?" Everyone asks, stupefied at the reason. Though, Origami recovers first, as she asks: "Who is this man?"

The person in question then pulls Kurumi towards the group while ordering her: "Give them a proper apology, or your punishment will be worse."

The girl pouts, then transforms back to her normal self and lands on the floor. After Kuro retracts his hand, she bows down and says: "I'm sorry everyone for scaring you like that. I just wanted to have some fun."

"Yeah, the kind of fun that only you, Neptune and Kuro could think of." Emerald scowls. She then looks at Kuro and says: "You should introduce yourself AND Kurumi for them to know." After that, she starts healing up Mana with her spell.

Kuro shrugs, then bows lightly and responds: "Greetings to you. This little missy here, **Kurumi Orleans**, **is the princess of a country called Gallia. **Our plan is for her to… let her study abroad so she could learn more about Japan. But, she decided to… take that to another level, as you can see."

And obviously, he earns blank stares from everyone, except Emerald who's focusing on healing Mana. Though, there's one part that they could AT LEAST believe, as Shidou asks: "Kurumi… is a princess?"

"Well yes, **she's the daughter of the current queen, Charlotte Orleans**." Kuro replies.

"… I'm returning to Fraxinus." Kotori, transforming back mid-conversation, taps into her earpiece and orders Reine to send her back to the ship.

"Wait, Kotori!" Shidou tries to call her back, but it's too late that she has already been teleported away. He then turns back to Kuro and asks: "Emerald said that you could stop this. Then why didn't you do so?"

"Well… the thing is…" Kuro sounds a little hesitant, then he explains: "It's because you need to know that your step-sibling has also become a Spirit."

"… You and Goddess already knew that from the beginning?" Origami concludes, sending hate glare towards Emerald.

"I didn't, unfortunately. But I had a hunch, since her aura felt similar." She then stops her healing spell, as she tells Kuro: "I have to leave the rest to you."

"Hm? Something wrong?" Kuro walks to Shidou's younger sister and kneels down next to her, then starts examining her with his magic. "…I see." A lotus appears over the girl's chest, as she squirms a bit at the unfamiliar feeling. "It would help her. Now…"

"Kuro…" He turns to Tohka. "What's your relationship with Kurumi?"

"Ah, that? **I'm the captain of Gallia Royal Guards**." Kuro replies. He then stands up and gives Kurumi a finger-flick to her forehead, causing her to immediately rub the sore spot while whining a bit. "Next time, tell your mother before doing something like this again, okay?"

"Sorry…" The Spirit, now known as a princess, pouts at the 'poor treatment'.

"Shidou…" Origami gains Shidou's attention. "That Spirit of Fire is your sister…"

"Oh, **she's not the one causing your lost.**" Kuro immediately interferes.

"…How did you…"

"Kuro, best to say, **has the ability to travel through time freely.**" Emerald explains. "He probably saw what happened to you and who the culprit was after I told him what you told me."

"… Tell me." Origami orders shortly.

"That… you know what, I'm not telling you." Kuro suddenly grins and shrugs, causing Origami's glare at him intensifies. "You can find it on your own."

"What are you going to do now?" Kurumi asks, clearly intimidated by Kuro's appearance alone. And yet, her blue eye is sparkling with… something else.

"Probably a trip around the town… and wait for Kotori's decision." The lotus on Mana's body disappears, signaling that she's fully healed. "We will see each other again." With that, Kuro disappears, leaving no traces behind.

Emerald then stands up and puts her hands on her hips before scowling Kurumi: "Seriously, **don't take that habits of his**. Being mysterious and…"

"That's my mother's habits as well." Kurumi cheekily responds.

"…I have no words for you two." Emerald throws her hands up in the air in defeat. Then, she remembers one thing: "What's the punishment **your father** was talking about?"

Kurumi's cheeks flush up. "Oh, it's nothing too…"

"Wait!" Tohka interrupts. "I heard Kuro said that, but I haven't seen or heard about her father!"

"**He was just here, you know?**" Emerald earns blank stares from everyone except Kurumi. "I'm not joking."

"But… but… he's as young as us!" Shidou half-screams.

"…Okay, you know what? Tonight, we all gather in Shidou's house, and I will explain stuffs with Kurumi, and Kuro if he joins midway."

Just in time, Mana wakes up. "Ow…" She then sees Kurumi and nearly jumps up and goes for a stance if Emerald doesn't hold her down. "Nightmare is fighting…"

"Relax. She's not attacking you anymore." Emerald assures.

"About the punishment…"

"No. I saw your face, and I know what it is." Emerald immediately stops Kurumi. "Anyway, let's clean up this… mess, before we exit this place."

* * *

**Chapter 5 end!**

**So, yeah... that's the reason I rushed this story, because I need to give more freedom in revealing Kuro's background in my other stories.**

**The next spoiler will come up soon. See you then!**


	6. Chapter 6

**This one will review a little more info to the DaL group. Not full spoilers than you thought it would be.**

**To Synchro: You must be new to my stories then. I have thrown many hints in my other stories, and this time 'spoilers' will be the official reveal for some of them. Though, thanks for enjoying my story.**

**With that out of the way, let's get to the main story!**

* * *

Due to the event occurred in the school, Emerald returns to the apartment earlier than expected. During the bus ride, she calls Fraxinus and asks Reine: "When did Kotori become a Spirit?"

"It happened five years ago. How it happened, then we didn't know, since all of her memories at that moment were gone." Seeing that there's no point in hiding, Reine answers honestly.

"Hm… How long have she been using it?"

"Twice."

"Twice?"

"The first time was when she gained it. The second time…"

"Is there a reason for her to not use it?"

"… She didn't want to leave her brother."

"Ah… I see. Yeah, that would be disheartened to leave someone precious behind. Anyway, where's Shidou now?"

"He's talking with his sister in the containment room. 'It's for everyone's safety', she said."

"*Sigh* Overthinking much?"

"Possible."

"Anyway, if the conversation goes for too long, drag them back to the ground, even if it's by force. Not going to let them be over-concerned about such petite problems."

"I hear it." With that, Reine turns off the call herself.

Dropping the phone on her lap, Emerald says to herself: "I wonder what Kuro is planning… **Is he going to create another Remnant ending?"**

* * *

"I'm home!" Emerald speaks out loud so Yoshino could hear her. Before she reached home, she has received a message from Fraxinus that she's at home already.

"Good afternoon, Emerald!" Yoshinon calls out, as Yoshino walks to her with a smile on her face, and a vanilla ice cream on her right hand.

The goddess smiles at the young girl and pats her, while asking: "How's your day going?"

"It's been a little boring!" Yoshinon complains. "We're on the ship and playing with the people there for the day. Then when we returned here, **a woman** is already inside and making dinner! Though, she did give us some ice cream, so we won't complain! Oh, and she said she knows you!"

That drops her smile, as she immediately rushes to the kitchen, with Yoshino following her quickly. She stops right at the opening door and sees that, there's indeed a woman in 30s wearing a long black frill dress, cooking something with the oven. Though, based on the figure of the person… Emerald sighs and says: "**Kuro,** you could have called me beforehand."

"Oh?" The woman turns back, and Emerald could CLEARLY see the playfully glee in her eyes behind the glasses. "I just want to give everyone a surprise. Is Yoshino happy?"

"With the ice cream, yeah sure." Putting her bag on a chair, Emerald walks to the fridge and pulls out a bottle of orange juice. She pours it in a glass while asking: "So what did you do after disappeared before us?"

"Well…" The oven dings, and Kuro, in 'his' female form, pulls out a pie and places it on the table. "Let's just say that… **I prevented someone to become an unintentional murderer.**"

"**By turning yourself into a real one?**" Emerald asks back, which earns her a nod. "That sounds exactly like you to me."

"Yep." Picking up another glass, Kuro turns himself back to normal, much to Yoshino and Yoshinon's surprise, and picks the bottle up once Emerald has done with it, and pours himself one as well. He then turns to the Spirit and smiles: "Yeah, I don't want to scare you off, so I thought it would be easier to meet you with that other form."

Though, that earns him a laugh from Yoshinon, as the doll says: "That's a good disguise! And you're friendly, so we don't mind!"

"Well thanks." Kuro then takes a sip from the orange juice glass, before turning to Emerald. "Did you have something to do tonight?"

"How about you helping me answering everyone's question? I told them to gather at Itsuka's residence." The goddess replies. "Also, I told them you're Kurumi's father."

"Kay then. I don't really mind."

* * *

After dinner. Living room

"I would love to start the conversation, but can you all stop glaring towards each other?" Kuro says, rubbing his left temple in mild annoyance, as Mana and Origami are glaring at Tohka and Kotori as the later duo return it. The AST soldiers are also glaring at Kurumi, but she doesn't care at all since she's sitting next to him.

"I think we could start it without them." Reine simply says.

Yoshino lightly pulls Shidou's arm, signaling that she's a bit scared. Shidou pats her head to calm her down, before asking: "Kurumi… are you a Spirit, or are you something else?"

"I was not a Spirit." The girl replies. "However, I did make a deal with one to become one."

"Is it the same to Kotori?" Shidou continues.

"That's for you and her to remember. Those memories are bound to the events five years ago…"

"You knew who killed my parents." Origami interrupts. "Tell me." Her blank stare is hiding her inner rage fire, that couldn't go unnoticed by Kuro.

"I did. But, I can't tell you." Kuro replies. "It's better for you to try to find it on your own. I'm a stranger to you, so you wouldn't believe my story over your own belief."

Her gaze on him hardens, but she doesn't say a word. Tohka asks her question: "How are you Kurumi's father?" That makes Kotori and Yoshino widen their eyes in surprise. "You look so young…"

"**Four hundred years old is not young for human.**" Emerald says that out loud.

Of course, stares of disbelief focus on him, causing him to chuckle and answer that: "Yeah, I'm around that age. I'm a different being than human."

"Are you a demon?" Kotori asks. "If Kurumi has that form of her…"

"Half. Or quarter, I'm not sure. **My body's containing all sorts of power, and the power of a demon is one of them**."

"…Including the power of turning human into a Spirit." Origami decides to give out a theory.

"Technically, yes. But, I don't bother change one person into another unless it's absolutely necessary." Kuro takes a sip from his teacup before continuing: "And I'm not responsible for the first spacequake, mind you."

"The power of traveling through time, Kurumi…" Shidou asks. "Was it from Kuro, or was it from the Spirit power?"

"Both. I can be flashier with Spirit power though." Kurumi says, then nudges into Kuro's arm.

"We come from a place where fighting monsters is common. And it's normal to see young hunters trying to develop their own ways to fight." Kuro explains further. "As you saw before, Emerald's fighting style is casting spells while focusing on dodging as well."

Mana: "By the way… if you're a captain of the guards, then how did you manage to… um… fall in love with the queen?"

Kuro chuckles. "It's the opposite actually. However, I was her… personal servant when she was still a princess…"

"Yeah, like anyone would believe that." Ignoring the look Kuro is sending to her, Emerald changes the answer: "Yeah, the 'personal servant' part is right. However, he wasn't the captain of the guards. Since he didn't take the position of being the King, **he's now the co-ruler of Gallia alongside its queen.**"

"…That's more believable." That's everyone's response, causing Kuro to pout lightly.

"That explains how you could easily block our attacks." Kotori comments. "So, what are you going to do next?"

"… A couple of things." Kuro says. "First, about Kurumi's conditions. Pretend that the event today never happened. Of course, I won't ask you to forget it, but reassure that she won't do such things again."

"How can you be so sure of it?" Origami asks suspiciously.

"Hey, I'm her father, and I don't want to cause ruckus if I can help it. And you saw how powerful I am."

"… That will depend." That's Origami's short conclude.

"Since you healed me before, then I should trust you too." Mana says, gratefulness filling her voice.

"…Yeah. The second thing is actually about you." Kuro follows.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know why Emerald stopped her healing midway? It's because she couldn't heal what's killing you." Kuro turns serious at the second sentence.

"Wait what?" Mana widens her eyes in shock. "What's killing me? What do you mean?"

"…*Sigh* I think I have to reveal this one truth." Kuro rubs his nose bridge, before saying: "**If both Mana and Shidou were not involved in this, they might have reached the age of forty already.**"

"…WHAT?" Everyone except Kurumi and Reine shouts in shock, although the latter has her eyes widen as well.

"Hold on! That can't be right! Human body WILL grow on time! Even if we lost our memories, our bodies would still change!" Mana counters, not believing it one bit.

"DEM was the one responsible for that matter." Kuro coldly states. "And that comes with my third objective here: **Personally interrupting the work of one Isaac Westcott.**"

Everyone could feel the coldness in his voice, contradicting to the cheerfulness he gave everyone a few minutes ago. Even Kurumi and Emerald move away from him a bit in fear. Then, Kuro closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, then sighs, letting the scary atmosphere to die down. "Sorry. But he's really on my nerves after finding out what he has done."

"He's so scary…" Shidou turns to Yoshino, who's hiding herself out of Kuro's view. He sympathizes for the little girl, since he also feels the dreadful tension appearing in the room.

"Back a little bit…" Reine regains her composure. "You said that Mana and Shidou were supposed to be forty. Mind elaborate it?"

"I can't tell Shidou's case. However, with Mana's… it's because of the Wizard Abduction."

"Abduction?" This time Origami asks, her voice shows that she's surprised at Kuro's choice of words.

"Ask Westcott himself. However, be careful, since that person sees you as everything smaller than an ant."

"So… my memories… they're because of DEM?" Mana asks, her body shaking violently.

"Your memories, yes. Your body, yes. Your mentality, not very sure since I haven't seen that far." Kuro admits. He then turns to Kotori and asks: "So, are you two going out tomorrow?"

"What are you talking about?" Kotori asks, clearly confused at the change of topic.

"Your power needs to be re-sealed, right?" Kuro says, referring to the conversation between Kotori and Shidou, the one that he wasn't supposed to know. "The power inside you started to react violently after the re-awakening, and it would manipulate your body and change it from human to a Spirit. And that's not something you like, I could assume that."

"…You saw that with your power?" Kotori asks, guessing the only possible theory that could be true.

"How else?" He then turns to Reine. "Any suggestions for the two?"

"Ocean Park. That's the best location around." Reine replies.

"Ocean Park, heh?" Both Emerald and Kurumi suddenly says at the same time, while looking at Kuro with a funny look.

"What's wrong?" Kuro, not seeing the danger yet, brings the teacup to his lips while asking.

"You mean that amusement park with a pool?" Shidou's question causes Kuro to freeze in place.

"Correct." Reine confirms Kuro's fear.

"… Can we come?" Origami asks, HOPING it would be the case.

Reine: "We won't object."

Kotori then notices Kuro not moving after hearing that, so she asks: "What's wrong, Kuro? Do you have something to say?"

"Well… not really." Slowly putting the teacup back to the table, Kuro says: "I mean, it's your decision, not…"

"Father…" Kurumi pushes herself closer to Kuro, causing him to flinch. "How about you joining us as well?"

"It's been a while since you have a vacation. Hey, how about you helping us picking the swimsuits?" Poking Kuro's right cheek, Emerald teases the man, causing his face to slowly redden up.

Everyone looks at the scene, not knowing what they're implying. Then, Kuro sighs while scratching his head. "Guess I can't deny at this point."

"You can't." Emerald and Kurumi synchronize one more time, then giggle at his 'misfortune'.

"Did we miss something?" Mana asks confusingly.

"Nothing, nothing. You will see tomorrow." Kurumi giggles, then pulls Kuro up and towards the exit. "Emerald, can you explain the rest?"

"Hey wait…" The duo then disappear out of thin air, making Emerald close her mouth and then sigh.

"Kurumi seems a bit clingy on Kuro…" Shidou comments.

"…Do you remember what I talked about 'Kuro's ideal' when Kotori talked about the 'siblings'?" That makes the 'Spirit of Fire' blush up. "Well, **that's the case with Kurumi and Kuro**."

"… Wait." Kotori points to the door, the location where the duo disappeared. "Those two? Are you sure? I thought that's just how a daughter stays around with her parents?"

"Normally, that's the surface. Guess what's under it." That causes anyone who understands it redden up. Emerald then rubs her eyes and asks herself: "What can we really do to that **harem god**?"

"…Harem?" Everyone immediately asks.

"Yeah. In literal sense, mind you. Although, he only married to a few, while the others stayed as his girlfriends." Suddenly a little doll appears above her head and hits her head with the hammer. Even though she feels the hits, Emerald doesn't bother to swat her away because those hits deal no damage at all. "That title's given by Neptune. The god part is just because he's one, it's not about how 'skilled' he is in 'hauling' those girls for himself." The doll pulls out a bigger hammer and continues hitting, to no success. "One of the reasons is that he could be very entertaining, like right now." Reaching her hands above the head, Emerald gently grabs the doll and pulls her down, as the doll squirms and tries to hit her to no avail as she's completely out of reach.

"That's… the same one… with that person…" Kotori points to the doll, then to the door again. "How?"

"Like he said before, he has all sorts of power." Seeing that 'she' couldn't reach Emerald anymore, the doll crosses her arms before her while pouting cutely. "The doll is called Shanghai, and he uses her mainly to express his childish self."

Yoshino slowly moves herself out of Shidou's back, and Yoshinon reaches towards the doll and grabs her out of Emerald's hand. The doll does nothing against it, and when Yoshino pats her, she just pushes herself into the Spirit's hand while making happy squeaky sound. That makes the young girl feel a little cheered up, as she starts patting the doll even more.

Emerald: "And that's his way to make girls be less scared of him."

"That… is a good way. No sarcasm." Shidou says, seeing Yoshino smile happily while playing with the new doll.

"Oh, forgot to mention, **Kuro was human.**"

"We can see that." Reine notes.

"Although, if Kurumi's a princess, shouldn't she, like, be with more guards?" Kotori points out a good point. "No offense to Kuro, but she really needs more protections than…"

"**The fact he could delete a universe would counter that point.**" Emerald points out what makes Kuro the current most powerful person in the group. "Anyway, I think I have held you here long enough. Tomorrow would be a fun day for us all, so save up your energy."

* * *

On top of a building

Kurumi's sitting in Kuro's lap, as the man is hugging her passionately. "It feels so nice." Kurumi says, as she nudges closer into Kuro's arms.

"Your mother wouldn't like seeing this." The man comments, chuckles at his imagination of his wife being jealous over her own daughter.

"Mmm, you know she wouldn't be mad for so long." The daughter replies.

"I think she would, if she knows you could do this." The one in his lap is his daughter, and so are the two hugging him from behind.

"But that would make her look cute, right?"

"Can't argue with that *chuckle*." He then notices the left Kurumi starting to close her face towards his. "What are you doing?"

"Just want to have some quick time with…"

"**Before this story turns into M-rated…**" The Kurumi trio immediately turns to the left to see **another Kuro, but wearing full black outfit with a fedora and a cane**, standing near the edge of the building floor. "Kuro, I have checked the world to see if we could find **The First Spirit**. And, not going to lie, we won't be able to find her **if we don't use 'that' and her being cooperative.**"

Turning serious, Kuro asks back: "She's suspicious at our work?"

"Doubt it, since she trusted Kurumi enough to give her the power. Kurumi, you found her before, right?"

"Yes, but that's with **her copy's help**. I can't pin-point her that easily, even with the power she gave me." The clones disappear, as Kurumi continues: "I did try to use the twelfth bullet, but I couldn't reverse back to the right time."

"So it's not yet for us to meet her." Kuro closes himself to Kurumi by placing his head on her shoulder, causing her to blush up a bit. "Though, it's expected. You did a good job, Kurumi."

"Thanks, father." Kurumi replies, a little embarrassed at the affection, but totally welcoming it.

"Get a room, you two." The Kuro-alike shakes his head, but not bother to hide the smirk on his face.

"Hey, **you and Kurome have the front seats here.**" Immediately a megaphone is thrown from a sudden-appeared portal and headed straight towards Kuro's head, though he could dodge it easily.

"She's on that day of the month, so don't trigger her." The other one also dodges as well.

"Return back and calm her down already!" Kuro shouts while cackling madly, causing Kurumi to giggle and the other to chuckle and disappear in the portal that opens under his feet. Kuro then whispers into Kurumi's right ear: "Let's return back to your apartment, shall we?"

* * *

**Chapter 6 end!**

**A little teasing for you readers :3. Though that might explain how clingy 'a certain wife of Kuro' could be. Like mother, like daughter. And, well... the M-rated part will be in another story of mine *wink* *wink*.**

**Also, the next chapter MIGHT BE the end of arc 1. I haven't seen the OVA of Season 1 yet, so once I watch it, I will make the decision to end with the next, or the one after it.**

**And, obviously, fan-service will happen :3. See you all in the next chapters!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A little late, sorry you guys.**

* * *

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

The sound of the alarm in his phone rings up, and Kuro rubs his eyes after his senses reactivate. He then reaches his hand to the bed drawer, picks up the phone and turns off the alarm. "It's six already?" He asks himself while scratching his hair with his free hand. He then sits up…

"Myun…"

'Tries to' is the correct term. He immediately turns to his right to see the source of the sound, to see Kurumi, naked, having her arms wrapping around his torso. He is also in the similar state.

He sighs at the girl's affection to him. Unlike his other wives and girlfriends, she and her mother are the clingiest to him, given by the former's original character and the latter's gratefulness to him for what he has done for her. And… it doesn't help much when his wife's mother fully approves of it, the marriage and the 'clingy' part.

Gently pinching her cheek, Kuro coos: "Kurumi, it is morning already. Wake up."

"Five more minutes, father…" Kurumi's arms squeeze around him tighter, not wanting him to get out of bed.

Kuro chuckles, and starts slipping out of her arms. Despite her weak protest, Kuro gets out of bed and stands up, heads to the bathroom. "I will make breakfast later. You should wake up then."

"Hai-hai…" Kurumi sleepily responds, as she cuddles back into the blanket.

Chuckling, Kuro walks into the bathroom and starts fixing himself up with morning routines. After that, he walks into the kitchen and starts making food for the two… or four, when he notices that two more clones of his daughter are already ready at the dining table, with the real one in the bathroom if the sound of water running inside indicates it.

"This would be every morning, huh?" Kuro jokingly says.

One of the clones replies: "That's for being 'rough' with me last night."

"Hey, in my defense, you told me to do so." Checking the ingredients, Kuro replies back.

The other clone slumbers on the table while saying lazily: "He has a point." That causes the first clone to knock her on the head. She then changes the subject: "About our class…"

"Good, so far. Gonna have to fix a lot in some words that they can't speak." Kuro says, turning the heat of the oven up.

After the date that's in the last episodes of season 1, minus the whole 'Origami trying to kill Kotori' parts, Kuro has applied himself to be the English teacher in Raizen High School, and Emerald has also stopped working in the bookstore and applied to be Biology teacher due to her natural experiences with said subject. Some have questioned their capabilities due to how young they look, but after they have proved to be more than enough, their 'disguises' are able to get through.

And it has been one month from it, which is…

"Are you planning to call some of our friends to go with?" The real Kurumi joins in the table, fully clothed, and asks Kuro.

"Me calling them, or them teleporting right above my head?" Kuro speaks out the obvious event going to happen, him allowing it or not.

"True enough." All Kurumi chuckle.

Kuro then starts bringing the meal to the table. "Let's eat up. We have a day of work in front of us."

* * *

Time skip

"Say again?" Kuro laughs, as he opens the Pepsi bottle he has in his hands. "Oh god Shidou, you need to be more careful about her. But it's seriously hilarious."

"Don't, Kuro." The boy sighs while narrowing his eyes in annoyance. "You have no ideas how much effort we had to pull off to calm her down."

"I can imagine. Tohka running around with Sandalphon while Origami carries you away to avoid getting cut in half." Another laugh, Kuro pauses to drink a large gulp before continuing: "At least you aren't killed. But hey, you heal fast, right?"

"Don't…"

"That aside…" Kuro changes the subject while emptying the bottle. "How's the preparation so far? The trip, I mean."

"Smoother after that, for sure."

The bell then rings up, signaling another period is starting soon. Throwing the empty bottle into the trash can, Kuro says: "You better head to your class now. I have another one to attend now."

* * *

"Two Spirits, no, three existing co-operatively right in one school?" Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott asks with full interest, as he holds on the file his secretary just gave him. "Two being students, and one being a teacher of all things?"

"They didn't even bother to hide at all." Ellen Mira Mathers responds. "Especially 'Nightmare' and 'Goddess'. However, we have another concern." The secretary then changes the profile to a certain character. "This man is seen helping Ratatoskr 'helping' the Spirits. The two I just mentioned are also very close to him. We have no real records on him, and what we found… are all fakes."

"Really?" Isaac grins. "It's getting interesting… Ellen, do you think he's also a Spirit as well?"

The secretary shakes her head. "We have taken several scans during the month. He emitted no power at all."

"Then, can you explain how he got two Spirits following him despite just recently popping up?" Isaac asks, a little playing tone filling his voice.

"… Maybe he's just a playboy."

"Maybe… well then, let's handle this our way…"

* * *

The first day of the trip

Location: the airplane

Ellen watches the event going, as Tohka's shouting at Origami for stealing the 'best position on the plane', with Shidou sitting at the middle while sighing at his misfortune. She then turns to the trio teachers, which are Kuro, Reine and Emerald. The first one is reading something on his phone, the second is savoring her food, and the last one is reading a manga… nothing too unusual so far. Looking back at the further rows of seats, Ellen detects Kurumi watching the sky from the window with mild bored expression.

Then, she does her 'job' by taking pictures of the Spirits and the suspected targets… and then gets herself into shenanigans by being constantly harassed by the 'annoying trio' of the class.

Well, that's enough to say that she's spying everyone from the inside.

…

After Shidou's class reaches the ground

Location: Up on the sky

"Are you sure they're Spirits?" James A. Paddington asks Ellen, as he watches the cameras focusing on the said people. "They all look like little girls to me…"

"Don't let your guard down. We all have confirmed that they are Spirits." Ellen replies through the earpiece from the ground. "That's good enough to be on Level 1 alert."

"Well, if it comes from you, then I will take it to heart." He then orders the camera to focus on a teacher. "How about this guy? I heard that he's close to the Spirits."

"Yes. But we have no confirmations on however he's related to them."

"Really? That's unexpected…" Then he notices Princess running away from the group, with a boy following her quickly. "Hey, one of them is running away with a boy. What to do now?"

"Please track and monitor her movements. The boy is only an acquaintance, like the teacher. Also, activate Ashcroft Beta according to plan, and cut off the island from outside communication." Ellen orders… and then she gets pulled away by the 'annoying trio' again.

"Miss Implementation Manager has it rough, huh?" James comments at Ellen's unfortunate. "Though, she's just a little girl. The Bandersnatch Units will capture her easily."

"Captain, look!" One of the operators calls out for James as he points at the camera. "The teacher has noticed Princess walking away."

"Hm… let us observe. What could he really do…" All of the sudden, all of the cameras turn static, catching everyone off guard. "What the hell? Report!"

"Sir! Just before the cameras went down, the weather of the area starts changing!"

"That… is impossible." James declares. "No winds could just blind us that easily! Find out what the disturbance is immediately!"

…

"Tohka! Shidou!" After deactivating all cameras, Kuro checks if anyone's noticing him, before teleporting right behind the two. "Why are you two out here? We have to return back now!"

"I'm sorry, Kuro-sensei…" On instinct, Tohka apologizes after being scolded.

Just at that moment, the wind kicks up, causing everyone to raise their arms up to defend themselves. Then Shidou grabs Tohka's hand while shouting: "We have to run to the sideway!"

Kuro immediately follows, as the three walks out of the main way to stop being hit by the direct wind. Then, the teacher notices many objects being flown directly at his group, so he moves himself right before the students and starts punching and kicking things out of the harm way.

"Thank you Kuro!" Shidou gratefully speaks, before noticing a strange sound above the sky. He looks up to see two unusual lightning forces colliding constantly. "A Spirit? AST? In this area?"

Then, with one last collision, it sends a powerful force right down to the group, nearly blowing them away if Kuro didn't raise a barrier in time to save them. Thanks to Kuro's help, Shidou could be able to fully observe what happened… and then he sees two Spirits landing down on the main road, facing each other, just in time for the wind to die down as well.

"That's… unexpected." Kuro comments. "One way to ruin a fun trip, for sure."

Shidou's earpiece then picks up Reine's call. "I finally got through. Shin, are you okay?"

He immediately replies: "Yeah, we're okay. Thanks to Kuro."

"That's good. Where are you right now?"

"That…" The trio then watches the Spirits starting to throw some… conversation? Argument?

"Shidou…" He turns to Tohka. "Are they… Spirits as well?"

"…I think so…"

Then, their powers kick up the wind again, causing Tohka and Shidou to raise their arms in defense against the wind. And they throw another punch at each other… only during midway, Kuro teleports himself right in between and holds their heads on place with his hands. And he also grabs them hard, causing the two to immediately drop their attacks and start whining in pain while trying to pry his hands out. "Girls, your fighting is not my concern. But you're endangering my students' life with your contest, so I have to stop you two right now."

Once they're not trying to fight anymore, Kuro retracts his hands, and the Spirits rub their sore spots while glaring at Kuro. One of the Spirits shouts at his face after recovering: "What's the big deal? Don't you know how to handle a lady properly?"

"What? You want me to grab your chest?" Kuro sends her a completely straight look, causing her to back away a bit while covering her chest in embarrassment. "Now you answer it for yourself."

"Question." He turns to the other. "How could you stop both of our attacks? Suspicion. You are not human."

"Could be. Could be not." Kuro shrugs, clearly not going to give out the straight answer.

"You're lucky that you're not hurt by our attacks! Why are you out here anyway?" The more outspoken Spirit demands answer from him.

He points his thumb towards Shidou and Tohka. "I was looking for them before you attacked just right at where they are."

"Oh…" At least the Spirits could be easily talked with.

"We should return back now." Shidou walks to the main road, with Tohka following behind him, and says to Kuro. "Everyone's probably worried of us now."

"Yeah." Kuro nods, then waves to the Spirits. "We're leaving you two for your own advices. Check your surrounding before…"

"Wait." Kuro stops and turns back to the Spirits. "Since you interrupted our fight, shouldn't you give us some compensations?"

"Like?" Kuro plans to play dumb. "I just stopped you a little bit, nothing too serious."

"Suspicion. You could have shouted at us instead of stopping us by yourself."

"Chances for you to manage to hear me were quite low."

"Come to think of it…" The mono-tone Spirit turns to the others. "We have fought a lot, with 25 wins for each of us and 49 ties. However, there's one thing that we haven't competed yet…"

* * *

"So that's the situation." Kuro rubs his eyes in annoyance as he stops his explanation.

"That's… unfortunate. At least it's not you."

"Yeah, Emerald. And sorry Shidou…" Kuro bows lightly to the boy apologetically.

After they returned to the hotel, Kuro immediately pulled anyone acknowledged of Spirits in the group into one room, while explaining (lying) to Tamae-sensei that the new Spirits are transferred students. Once everything's covered, Kuro explained the problem to everyone.

"It's my job anyway…" Shidou replies, while uncomfortably shifting in his seat as the new Spirits, Kaguya and Yuzuru, try to 'lure' him to one of them. "But, why are you dueling?"

"… Ah right, we didn't tell you." Kaguya remembers.

"Memory lapse. We forgot to tell you. As the arbitrator, you have the right to know." Yuzuru starts the explanation. "We were once a single Spirit."

"The Spirit's name was Yamai. One day, we need to go back to being one single Spirit. However, both personalities can't coexist at the same time."

"Explanation. For that reason, we have fought for many years to determine who that will be. Fistfight, footrace, kendama, eating contest, and many more ways."

"Sounds like a peaceful Console War so far." Kuro chuckles, earning looks of confusion from the ones who don't know about CW.

"But then, what will happen to the other personality?" Emerald asks.

"It will disappear, of course." Kaguya answers nonchalantly.

"…So." Kurumi stands on Kuro's right and leans herself on him, and whispers in his ear. "What plans do you have to stop them from killing each other?"

"A few." Her father whispers back. He then asks Reine: "Have you managed to call Fraxinus?"

"Negative. No communications up until now. The reason is unclear." The physics teacher responds.

"Well then, we're sitting ducks here. Shidou, I will leave this matter to you."

"Actually, Kuro. I'm going to take those two with me for a while." Reine then puts her tablet aside and pulls Kaguya and Yuzuru out of Shidou. "Shin is a harder nut to crack than he appears, so I will teach you how to deal with him."

"You don't have to say that out loud." Shidou shivers, but he feels thankful that he has a small moment to breath.

When Reine and the two Yamai spirits leave, Tohka then speaks: "Shidou! How about we join with the rest of our class now? I heard that there's going to be a big event going on!"

Seeing this as the opportunity to vent off his 'mental breakdown', Shidou nods and walks with her out of the room…

"About that paparazzi…" Emerald says, once the group consists of only Kurumi, Kuro, Origami and her. "I have noticed that her full attention is on us. And true to Tohka's words, we felt something watching us the moment we touched the ground. What's going on?"

"Well… do you REALLY think our activities could go unnoticed?" Kuro shakes his head. "Isaac has found us. However, as long as we're staying with the others, they won't dare to pull anything drastically."

"And, when Emerald helped me observing her, I felt a familiar feeling towards her. I took a picture of her and tried to send it to Mana to have some searches, but like miss Reine earlier, I couldn't call her."

"Jamming devices. DEM is watching over us." Kuro explains. "However, I'm also jamming their cameras at the moment. The only way they could know what's happening on the ground is through her."

"Should we silent her?"

"No, Kurumi. That would make them send troops right over us the moment they notice it."

"So we can't do anything now?" Origami questions.

"Hm… I think it is, for now. Origami, try to not be obvious while following the woman. Immediately stop tailing if you feel danger. Kurumi, watch Tohka and Shidou from the inside. Emerald and I will take shifts of protection."

"Sounds like a second Kyoto again, huh?" Emerald notes.

"Similar, yes."

…

After the 'event' in the bathhouse

"I'm grateful that it's you and not me." Kuro chuckles, as he throws a dry towel and a bathrobe towards Shidou, who grabs it and immediately gets himself dried and covered up.

"Why can't you deal with them? I mean, you clearly had more experiences than me…" Shidou asks, finding quite strange that the older man didn't take it.

"First, Kurumi is not fond of the idea. Yes, she knows me, doesn't mean she likes the idea of seeing me going lovey-dovey with someone else. Second, you have the power to seal the Spirits. I could do that, but it might bring conflicts as I have said before."

"… You do have good reasons, but…"

"And third… never mind." Kuro stops there, not wanting to tell Shidou about DEM yet. After the student has stopped shivering, he orders: "You should return to your room and dress up. You can keep the bathrobe."

"Thank you Kuro." Shidou bows, before leaving the room.

"*Chuckle* So chu dang duoc huong thu thi cu huong thu cho da di." Kuro says to himself, before tapping into his laptop. "Hyperion, get ready. We have works to do."

* * *

**Chapter 7 end!**

**A prologue before the storm. See you in the next chapter, which will be soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**To Someone: Which word are you talking about? I tried scanning back the chapter, but I can't find that word.**

* * *

"Hey Reine, you're still up?" Kuro knocks on the woman's door and asks inside. After a few seconds, the physics teacher opens the door for him to walk inside. "How is it going with the communication?"

"Still has no success." Reine replies while closing the door, then returns to her laptop. Kuro walks to the bed and sits on it, then opens his own laptop up. "Not only that, every call to anywhere outside of the island is completely cut off… I'm suspecting DEM is the one doing so."

"Then you're correct." Kuro confirms. "They found out that we're hiding the Spirits on plain sight, so they sent a small troop to confirm it. And… obviously, they will try to catch them."

"Did they know that Kurumi and Emerald are… well…"

"No. That information hasn't been leaked yet. If it happened, I would have been noticed. However… you must have already noticed the camerawoman, right?"

"Yes. I felt something familiar from her, but I can't put my finger in it. One of the Wizards?"

"One of the best. But… outside of battlefield, she's quite a ditz." Kuro opens up a clip and shows Reine about the Wizard's problems with the 'annoying' trio. He then starts typing a program and says: "I will send a message to Fraxinus. It would be better than calling them, since that could be intercepted if we're not careful."

"I see…"

"So." Kuro changes the subject. "How are you doing with the Yamai?"

"I'm planning a date for them with Shidou tomorrow… are you sure you're not going to join?"

"Well, let the young man have his fun." Kuro chuckles. Then, he turns a little serious. "Phantom, I don't want to ask, but what happened to your original?" That causes Reine to stop typing. "I just want to talk a bit, but we couldn't trace her down, even with Kurumi's attempts to reverse back in time. Is there something wrong?"

"… I believe that's not in my knowledge." The other teacher replies. "But… best to say, she could have vanished after… that event already."

"I see." Kuro sighs. He then sees a call from Hyperion, so he answers: "Hey Raynor. Are you in position?"

"Just arrived." A male voice replies. "Are you sure you can handle things down there?"

"I'm sure. Just focus on controlling the sky. If Fraxinus falls, Ratatoskr is not going to have a good time cleaning up."

"Okay then. Good luck down there." With that, the call ends.

"Who is that?" Reine asks.

"Don't worry, I called some helps from 'allies'. They will help Fraxinus on the air."

"…Yourself is not enough?"

"Raising fear tactics. Show-off, in my case."

* * *

The next day

"He's surely having fun." Kurumi giggles, as she watches Shidou spreading the sun protection oil over the Wind Spirits' bodies. She then pulls Kuro towards one of the umbrellas and lies down under it. "Hey Kuro-sensei, how about you do the same for me as well?"

"*Chuckle* You cheeky girl." Kuro comments, though he didn't complain and starts pouring the oil he pulls out 'from nowhere' and starts doing the work.

"Jeez, you two. Don't make the jealousy go even higher with your work." Emerald, in a green two-piece bikini, comments as she walks to them.

"Hey, we're at the beach." Kuro replies, leaving words for everyone to imagine the next words he would say. Though, when the front is done (with a certain place being left off), Kuro gestures Kurumi with his hands to turn her back over, which causes her to slightly pout but still obey anyway. Then he notices the AST soldier and the purple Spirit walking to them. "Hey girls, enjoying so far?"

"Uh huh!" Tohka answers quickly with a bright smile, while Origami simply nods. "This is the first time I have gone to a beach! It's way better than the waterpark!"

The white-haired girl then focuses on Shidou having 'troubles' doing his work. "… About the two Spirits… what are you going to do with them?"

"Refrain them from killing each other, obviously." Kuro whispers. "However, Shidou knows what to do. I just have to cover his six."

"Cover what?" Tohka obviously is not familiar with the term.

"Ah, it's nothing." He then turns back to his work… and notices some places lack of oil, that he has already spread. He looks at Kurumi's face to see her smirking at him. "…Cheeky girl." Time hax at its finest.

"Well, I think it's enough talk." Emerald says, then pulls Tohka and Origami to the beach. "Come on! How about a race you girls?"

"Oh it's on, Emerald-sensei!" Tohka declares.

"I won't lose…" Origami answers, though there's a small hint of competitive in her voice.

"Well… you can go under my suit now." Kurumi teases, as she starts pulling off the top of her blue bikini.

"…Thanks for the invitation, but I don't want someone to accidentally take that picture, otherwise I'm dead."

* * *

Time skip

"Where are they heading now?" Ellen talks through her earpiece to James, as she hides behind the rocks and watches Emerald, Tohka and Origami jumping into the sea.

"Standby… the most possible destination is the private beach half a klick from your location…"

"Have the cameras worked properly?"

"After some fixes, yes… damn, we lost the camera focusing on you again."

"Again?" Ellen is irritated. Not once before would DEM face some mechanic problems like now. "Start fixing…" She starts heading off to try and follow the trio, only to falls into…

"That was close." Thankfully, someone has managed to catch her arm and hold her back from being sunk into the sand hole. "You okay there, miss Ellen?"

The secretary looks at the hole for a second before sighs in relief. "Thank you for saving me, mister…" She turns to look at who just saved her. "…Kuro…"

"Don't sweat it." 'Not noticing' the change of tone, Kuro retracts his arms on Ellen since she's on solid ground now. He then turns to the 'annoying trio'. "Please girls, don't just randomly dig the hole. Pranking on your friends is fine, but it could cause troubles to everyone else. At least find a way to lure the victim before digging one."

"Hai hai!" The girls respond.

"Well… I need to go now. Bye." Ellen immediately runs away, not wanting to deal with them anymore.

Kuro shakes his head, before tapping on his earpiece, as the students start planning another hole: "Reine, the camerawoman is heading to you. Be careful."

* * *

Another time skip

"Kuro." The teacher himself is watching the sunset on the beach while sitting on the sand, and notices Shidou walking towards him. "I need some advices from you."

"Sit down." Kuro pats the position next to him, and Shidou sits on that place. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"It's about the Yamai sisters. They… want the other to live, while self will disappear."

"I see… It's a hard decision, right?"

"… I want to ask if you know how to deal with it, your way."

"You know me. Beating them up until they abandon the idea." Earning a blank stare from Shidou, Kuro chuckles. "I'm not joking. While I don't like the idea, it's the easiest way to do. Of course, I won't hurt them too bad… physically at least."

Shidou starts considering his options… then asks: "Kuro… have you been in this situation?"

"A few times in my earlier days." The tides start raising up slowly. "However, I always only had two options, no alternatives. Die for the others, or see others die. I was in situations exactly like Yamai sisters right now."

"Really?"

"Yes. However, this situation has a massive difference." Kuro faces Shidou. "It's you. You're the judge here, not the Yamai sisters. Yes, if you're not here, then the sisters will have to pick either of the options. But, with you being the third person… I believe you will deliver the right decision."

"…Thanks for your trust in me, Kuro."

"Don't sweat it… The tides are getting higher. We should leave before Poseidon invites us to his palace."

* * *

Nighttime

Location: Fraxinus

"We're receiving a transmission from an unknown source. Patching through now." Nakatsugawa announces, as the screen flicks in static before getting a clear view from the caller…

"Greetings, Fraxinus." The person looks like an Admiral wearing a black outfit. "The name is Matt Horner, the Captain of Hyperion. I was tasked by Kuro and Commander Raynor to help you defending the sky while the others deal with their problems below the surface."

"Hm… right on time… Coordinate: 132, 50, 39. Height: 255, 246." Kannazuki then orders his crew to raise the shield at the exact location, just in time to block a shot that could pierce through the ship. "But, we couldn't locate your ship…"

"Because we're way up high to the space." The captain reveals. "We're sending you air-fighters to help you softening the other ship's attacks, but you need to try to find your opponent on your own."

"Any helps would be great." Despite not needing helps, it would make his work easier.

"Vice Commander, unidentified units uncloaking around us!" Masaomi opens another screen, to see Wraiths appearing around them, about ten of the units. Those fighters then move around Fraxinus in high speed, patrolling the area and securing the parameters.

"Guess that's them. Thank you for the help, mister Horner." Kannazuki bows politely.

"The pleasure is mine. Although, you could thank Kuro later."

"We will make sure of it." With that, the call to Hyperion ends. "Interesting. Kuro could call out an army from space…"

"What is your order now?" Minowa asks curiously.

"Since those flyers are covering us… turn the ship and focus energy into Misteltein main cannon!"

…

Meanwhile, on the ground

"Ara ara. Trying to bully our lovely boy with your little toys? You sure have a low standard." Kurumi playfully taunts, as she drags the Bandersnatch she just decapitated with her flintlock.

"Kurumi? Emerald? How did you get to us so fast?" Shidou asks in surprise, not expecting the girls to be right at the area he and the other Spirits are in.

Just before the Bandersnatches could hurt the boy, Kurumi has lined up a good shot that managed to penetrate through all of the machines, making them explode in place.

"That storm is not that hard to be spotted." Pointing towards the sky, the CPU Candidate in her HDD From reminds Shidou of the fight between the twin spirits. She then turns to Ellen and says: "Your group is quite daring to pull this stunt off, despite that there are many factors to ruin your plan around here."

"Hm, that's why I brought more to deal with you." The DEM Wizard calmly replies, as more Bandersnatches, both in Ground and Air Mode, appear into the scene.

"Well, that's a little unfair, you know." Raising her left flintlock and placing it on her shoulder, Kurumi watches the opponents preparing to jump on her and her companions.

"We will do anything to make sure that you're down, Spirits." Raising her right hand up, Ellen orders the machines to start rushing towards the Spirits…

"She was talking about you." Green Sister waves her wand once, and earth spikes emerge from the ground and pierce through some Bandersnatches, while the others are shot down by Kurumi. She then shouts: "Hey, Shidou! You take Tohka with you and try to calm down the Yamai sisters, okay? We will handle these DEM for you!"

After snapping out of shock, Shidou shouts back: "Thanks, you two!" He then grabs the Spirit's hand and says: "Let's go, Tohka!"

"But…okay…" She wants to retort, but knowing that she couldn't defeat the Wizard, she has no choices but to retreat.

"Like I would let you do that." Equipping her gears once again, Ellen flies straight to Tohka and raises her sword up during the flight, then slashes it down once she's in range… only for her sword to be deflected and then she's punched back a few meters. Quickly recovered, she looks up to see Kuro with his katana in his left hand, still being in its sheath. "You…"

"Thanks Kuro!" Shidou shouts to the person while still running away from the chasers.

"You are welcome!" Not turning from Ellen, Kuro casually shouts back. He then places his right hand on the katana's handle. "Now, about you…"

"One of the Spirits sympathizers." Ellen prepares her swords. "Stand out of my way."

"It's a duty of a teacher to protect his students." Slightly unsheathing his sword, Kuro replies.

"So be it." Throwing herself forward, the Wizard aims her sword right at the teacher's neck, only for something to deflect the hit. Not giving up, she tries different positions, but none of her slashes always hit something that she couldn't see nor feel. Then, from the corner of her eyes, she sees Kurumi aiming one of her guns right at her position, so Ellen has to back away just in time for a bullet to gaze before her face.

"I have it under control, Kurumi." Raising his left hand up, the sword being replaced by a revolver, Kuro shoots at one of the Bandersnatches which is planning to sneak on his daughter, shutting it down with a hole in its main body. He does that without leaving his sight on Ellen.

"…You're a deserted AST soldier?" Ellen asks, trying to find more information.

"Obviously not. If I am, I would have lost to you." Replacing the revolver with two katanas on his hands, Kuro crosses them before him. "Let us continue the dance."

…

Up in the sky

"Reporting in, mate. We got the bastard in place." One of the Wraith pilots calls to Fraxinus, as the units start flying around and shooting their rockets into Arbatel's shield. "Should we knock it down out of the sky?"

"Not necessary." Kannazuki belays the order. "However, can you try to take down any means of attacks from their ship?"

"You guys here that? Light 'em up, boys!" The squad leader issues the order to the others, and the moment the shield is down, all Wraiths de-cloak and continue bombarding Arbatel.

"Thanks to these guys, Fraxinus doesn't suffer too many damages." Kawagoe reports. "And we managed to link the communication with our Analysis Officer as well."

"Oh? You have already called her?" Kannazuki asks curiously.

"Yes. She's picking up now…"

"Is the Fraxinus okay?" That's the first question Reine asks after the screen shows up.

"Everything is under control." Kannazuki assures. "Kuro's help really comes in handy."

"I see…" Reine then looks out of the window from her room. "How is everyone doing, miss Origami?"

"Kuro and his group is stopping DEM in place, while Shidou and Tohka are trying to stop the Yamai." Looking through the binocular, the AST member watches the event progressing. "…Fighting a fully-equipped Wizard with just a pair of katanas… Now that's humiliating…"

"For the Wizard?" Reine tilts her head curiously.

"Obviously."

The officer then turns back to the screen. "Anyway, do you need more supports?"

"…Looks like they're retreating…" Kannazuki notices the Arbatel starting to fly lower… "What are they planning?"

…

Back to the ground

"Top-tier Wizard, I do have to commend your skills." Locking swords with Ellen, Kuro boringly comments. "But…" Using overwhelming force, he swings down his katanas and sends the Wizard fly away, causing earth to blow up along Ellen's falling way. "Spirits aren't the only ones you need to look out." That attack also hits her head and knocks her down for an amount of time.

"Hey Kuro, what can we do with these junks?" Emerald, having turned back to normal, asks, as the remains of the Bandersnatches scatter around.

"Well, Ratatoskr could melt them down and do something." Sheathing both of his katanas at the same time, Kuro nonchalantly replies. "I mean, we don't exactly have any uses for these…"

The sky then somehow gets split into two sides. Everyone looks up to see the clear sky, and the two Spirits standing on the opposite side over the cutting line. Kurumi's left eye narrows to see better, then looks down to the below to see Tohka and Shidou holding Sandalphon. She then asks Kuro: "Is that Shidou's work?"

"His determination, yes." Kuro throws his hands to the back of his head. "Let's grab them before more Bandersnatches show up."

Emerald uses her Assam Link, and the trio leave the area and head to the other main event.

And when they reach there, they just simply watch the event going, since the Yamai sisters would deal with everything in the end.

* * *

"My apology, sir Westcott. Mission failed, we can't capture the Spirits." After waking up and seeing the Bandersnatches completely turned into scraps, Ellen immediately calls back to her boss. "However, we all now know that they're the right ones."

"I see. Still, I was half-expecting you to lose actually. If it's just a Spirit, then things will be more different. Good work, and return to base…"

"Before I forget, sir… I have fought him."

"Oh?"

"I…hate to admit, but… I lost to him."

"…Now that's a surprisingly shocking news. Is he also a Wizard?"

"…He fought me with just a pair of katanas, sir. He completely overwhelmed me with sheer power."

"…Even with Pendragon?"

"Yes, sir… and, for some reasons… I felt his style of fighting being way too similar to Nightmare… or it's the opposite…"

"…In which way?"

"I… can't really express it. It's like… Nightmare was trained by him or so…Their ruthless and precise accuracy…"

"Stop right now, Ellen." Westcott interrupts. "Don't let this failure affect your mind. This is just a small step back. We have plenty of time."

"…*Deep breath* Understood, sir."

* * *

**Chapter 8 end!**

**Sorry for the delay. Anyway... I now seriously want to kill Isaac on spot already after re-checking the events, but that would break the future too fast.**

**See you all in the next chapters!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for the delay. Here's chapter 9 everyone!**

* * *

Location: Camp Tenguu Military Base, Meeting room

"What's the meaning of this?!" Screaming right into her superior's face, Ryouko Kusakabe slams the stack of papers in her hand onto the table, creating a loud slapping sound. "Those DEM members have a clear authority to break away my commands under certain situations? This is just like AST has been sold to the DEM!"

"I have to agree with her, Major Tsukamoto." Origami adds. "While we're using their equipment to fight against the Spirits, we're owned by JGSDF and we only accept their orders, therefore, any units under our commands shouldn't have any special treatments."

"I understand your concerns." The Major nods. "I'm also against this idea. However…"

"Why would we listen to a team which couldn't catch even a Spirit in where the number of spatial quakes happened the most in these years?" AST members immediately turn to the exit to see unfamiliar faces heading into the room.

"Hey, who are you?" Ryouko asks in slight anger in her voice.

"The name's Jessica Bailey. Our units are just assigned to your squad. Looking forward to working with you." The woman, who seems to be the leader of the group, replies with a mocking smirk.

"DEM's members…" Origami whispers under her breath.

"So, I heard that the Spirits somehow blended into the society and lived amongst us, right?" Jessica then changes the subject. "Why didn't you all just capture them while they're sleeping or knock them down and then kill them? Surely our supplements aren't that bad for those tasks, or is it because you're so useless?"

"Hey, mind your words!" Ryouko grunts. "Even if we want to do that, do you have anything to counter if the Spirits another unexpected spacequake? Nightmare could do so with ease, and…"

"Of course we have." The brunette interrupts. "But why bother thinking about it when we just have to kill the Spirits in the first place?"

"You're underestimating them." Origami speaks up. "If you're that good, then why couldn't you catch the Spirits in Arubi Island?"

That nearly catches Jessica off guard, but she properly counters: "That's because we were just using the Bandersnatches. Those things are meant for support only."

The Major decides to interject: "That aside, miss Bailey, why are you here?"

…

After some briefing, DEM members go out of the room, leaving the AST members behind…

"That woman's attitude, ARGH!" Ryouko is pissed.

"Calm down, Captain Kusakabe." Tsukamoto calmly speaks. "Getting yourself worked up doesn't solve anything."

"Maybe the number of times she were denied her rest causes this."

"You're the lucky one here, Origami. I don't want to hear it from you." Ryouko grits her teeth.

"That's not me." The others immediately turn to Origami who just denies that…

"Hey, is that under your hat the entire time?" One of AST's members asks while pointing towards the location.

Immediately reaching her right hand to that, Origami grabs the squishy object and brings it down to her face, to see it being Shanghai waving at her with a bright smile. Her eyes widen in shock as she asks: "Kuro-sensei? Why are you here?"

"Poking around and having fun." The doll's smile is still there for a second, before the subject is changed: "And I want to see what DEM is planning."

"Wait, that doll is talking?" Ryouko backs away in fear. "Doll can't speak!"

The white-haired girl sighs and throws the doll away, which just floats up in the air much to the others' surprise. "If you get what you want, then leave."

"Well, I would like to talk a bit about a Spirit, actually." The doll then lands down on the Major's table, causing her to slightly back away in her chair. "Codename Diva. She's by far one of the most annoying ones."

"Diva? Wait a second, where did you get that info?" Tsukamoto finally finds her voice back.

"He's helping Ratatoskr, Major." Origami reveals. "And he's the one fighting against DEM in the island alongside Nightmare and Goddess."

"…He?" All three others ask at the same time.

"You know the new English teacher in my school? That's him controlling the doll with magic." The girl answers.

Everyone then focuses back on the doll, as he… SHE materializes some pictures in the air. "The new Spirit, Miku Izayoi, was also human. As how you name her, she's specialized in using her voice as the weapon to manipulate sound waves around her. However, these sound waves could be solidified, so you will have to constantly dodge her attacks. Earmuffs are a must if you don't want to be controlled by her."

"Why did you give us this?" Ryouko is suspicious at the doll's actions.

"While I don't like how you work, I can understand why. Also, our priority is to protect the people from the Spacequakes. If you cooperate with us, I can find out the core problem and deal with it so the Spacequakes won't happen again, and the Spirits can also be dealt with." The doll shakes her head once.

Everyone then turns to Origami, who nods. "He's saying the truth. Westcott is up to something, and he's here to stop him."

"The founder of DEM?" The Major asks. "I know he's cruel, but…"

"That's for you to find out." The doll interrupts, as she puts another stack of papers on the table. "So, Origami, ready for the Ten-oh Festival?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, if you want, I could try to make a date for you and Shidou, in exchange of these info..."

"Deal."

"HEY HEY HEY! Origami, don't just casually accept things like that!" Ryouko shouts up. "And you! Don't just make up deals like that!"

The doll just giggles behind her hands. She then says: "I have enough fun. See you in the school Origami." And with that the doll just disappears.

A little silence… and the Major speaks up: "Origami, can you give us more details about this… person?"

* * *

A few nights later

"Do you have me on your radar?"

"Affirmative. Be careful there, Kuro. If what you said were truth, you're going to get yourself a harmful treatment."

"I know. That's why Shidou shouldn't approach her at this point."

After the alarm, Ratatoskr has contacted with Shidou to head to the possible location of the Spirit. However, Kuro has intercepted it and told Shidou to head into the Fraxinus and observe, as he warned about the possible danger this Spirit could give him.

After entering the arena, Kuro then hears the song the new Spirit is performing in the middle of the area. Taking a look around the area, he slowly closes in her location without a sound. "That's a good singing, not gonna lie…"

"Hey, don't get mind controlled that easily." Kotori scolds through the earpiece.

"Hehe, just admiring some good traits left in that girl." Kuro smirks.

After a few moments, the girl stops singing, and he decides to make his presence known by slowly clapping his hands. That surprises the singer, as she tries to look down to see where Kuro is. "Ara? Did I gain an audience? Where are you? Can we talk a little bit?"

"Check her parameters. You are not going to like this."

"Be careful there." Reine says her wish.

Kuro then makes his footsteps be known, as he approaches the Spirit so she could know where he is. When she could see his figure, Diva starts saying: "Aw, you climbed up even here to see me? Good evening, I…" Only to stop instantly when she sees who she's facing against.

'The fun begins.' A message appears on Fraxinus' screen, as Kuro starts speaking: "Good evening, young lady. It's rare to hear such a wonderful song in a quiet night like today."

"All parameters are dropping fast!" Masaomi warns.

'I know.' "Even rarer when the singing started just after a spacequake. Though, if you want more audiences, maybe you should pick a better time." Kuro slowly walks left-to-right in front of the girl, waiting for her next reaction.

"Levels dropping below half!"

'Welp, time for bring up my defense.' Preparing a shield spell in his mind, Kuro stops walking and facing Diva again, whose power starts raising up. "But, you knew there would be no one hearing you, because you caused this, right? Spirit of Sound, Diva… Miku, Izayoi."

At that moment, Diva takes a huge breath-in, and Kuro immediately raises up his barrier spell, just in time the Spirit shouts at him with immense power, pushing everything out of the cliff except himself. After the scream, the Spirit calms her breath, but notices that Kuro is completely unharmed. That irritates her. "Why don't you just fall and die? Just get out of the stage and die!"

"Heh, die? Been there, done that." Kuro chuckles as he drops his spell. "That's quite a scream. No wonder you're a famous singer. That doesn't change the fact that your attitude needs to be fixed."

"Stop wasting your saliva and go to hell!" Another scream, and this time Kuro decides to step on the side and run on circle, as Diva tries to blast him off the stage. "You are contaminating the air around you!"

"Aren't you doing the same? That level of sound would consider to be unhealthy for the people around you. Even you as well." Kuro mocks the girl as he keeps dodging.

"It's not the time to joke, Kuro!" Shidou shouts into the mic.

"Hey, my objective here is to do so." Kuro grins.

Then, the rooftop explodes, and debris falls on top of the two. They temporarily stop fighting and raise their shields up, and Diva looks up to the sky to see AST members aiming their weapons at her. Her expression immediately lightens up as she rushes to them, ignoring Kuro. AST immediately attacks the Spirit, but with her constantly dodging and her sound shield raising up all the times, their weapons are not working very well.

"Well, I have some breathing space." Kuro jokes again, as he watches the fight going on. He then notices DEM members staring at him from afar. "Welp, guess I draw to myself some attentions."

"Should you retreat now?" Kotori asks, not very concerned of the man's safety.

"Nah. Need to make sure my student is okay after this."

After more clashes, Diva decides to be enough and pushes every AST member out of her with her power and then teleports away. Seeing that they fail again, Ryouko grits her teeth in anger…

"Calm down, lady, or you're gonna burst some veins." Snapping to her right, the Captain is surprised to see a man standing on an invisible platform waving his right hand at her while pocketing his left in his coat. "Nice to see you again."

"Kuro-sensei? Why are you here?" He turns to a surprised Origami as she asks the question.

"Can't I be concerned of my student?" He grins, then reveals: "I'm gathering some info from the Spirit by directly confronting her. Well, I'm aware of her hatred towards us men, but this kind of level is very concerning."

The white-haired girl sighs after hearing his explanations. "So what did you find?"

"Well, you are going to need…" He stops right there as he materializes a sheathed katana in his right arm as he swings it up to deflect a surprise attack from Jessica. "Hello young lady. Did Ellen ask you to send her regards to me? How kind of her." Obviously the last part is to mock the girl.

"Hm." Seeing that her attack is not effective, the DEM soldier backs away. "Even a surprise attack doesn't work on you. Still, I can't see how Ellen could lose to you."

"Maybe you will find out after I beat Westcott up." Kuro just shrugs nonchalantly, earning surprise looks from the others. "Don't be late tomorrow, Origami." His katana disappears, and he snaps his fingers loudly… and he's gone.

"…And he didn't say how to defeat the Spirit." Ryouko facepalms, then scolds Jessica: "Thanks to you that we lost a good piece of information."

"Well sorry then." Jessica replies with a mocking tone.

"I could try asking him again." Origami offers.

"Please do." Ryouko says with a thankful tone. "Alright everyone, let's head back."

…

The same night

"So try not to piss off any women, okay? Otherwise that happens." Kuro concludes his advises to Shidou, ending with a joking tone.

"I believe I had that experiences with Tohka." Shidou sweatdrops at the thought, though he's appreciated Kuro's help. "But, Miku hates men, right? How can I approach her?"

"Well, you're not going to like it."

"…Oh no."

…

At the moment

"Can't we just take her power and be done with it?" Kurumi suggests tiredly as she lazily lies on her bed. "She's just RED, worse version."

"You know that would break the future, right?" Emerald is against the idea, as she's cutting some fruits at the table. "Also, she needs to be punished for what she has done. Taking away the power is way too light."

"I know." Burying her face into the pillow, Kurumi then turns her head towards Emerald and asks: "How do you feel living in this world?"

"Good, so far." The 'teacher' answers. "Better than your father doing his job in Mahora, that's for sure."

"At least he got himself…"

"I'm pretty sure you're jealous of them."

"No…"

"You are… well, were, to be exact." She then changes the subject: "Anything on the First Spirit?"

"Still nothing. Even tracing back the sources didn't help much."

"…"

"…"

"So, what's for festival?"

* * *

The next day

"That's her. The Spirit of Sound."

"Try not to approach her yet, Shidou. Right now we need to determine her reactions towards everyone."

"Where are you right now Kuro?"

"America."

"Why are you there?"

"Well, need to find The First Spirit. Anyway, focus on dealing with her, and remember what I have told you."

"I will."

Closing his phone, Kuro then looks up to the main HQ of Asgard Electronics. "If I'm correct…" He says to himself, before heading into the building, blending in the people by wearing a suit replacing his usual lab coat.

Approaching one of the reception tables, he asks the staff working there: "I want to talk to sir Woodman. Is he currently here?"

"I'm afraid you have to come back at another time. He's having a meeting right now." The staff replies with an apologetic voice.

"It's alright. However, can I leave a message?"

"Sure. What is it sir?"

Instead of answering, Kuro pulls out his phone and starts typing what he needs. He then faces the screen to the staff. "Don't question it. Just make sure no single words are left off. And the last line is my number. Tell him to contact me soon as well."

The staff excuses him to start writing them down on the computer and sending the message to the boss. Once it's done, the staff nods. "It's done, sir. Do you need anything else?"

"Hm… that's it, for now. Thanks for your help." Kuro nods and says his goodbye, then leaves the building…

Once he's outside, he looks at the screen of his phone and contacts Fraxinus. "Kotori, how's the analysis on Diva, sorry, Miku to be exact?"

"Her personality, you mean?" Hearing a confirmation from the man, the Spirit of Fire answers. "Yuri-hardcore and men-hater girl, that's all it needs to summarize her."

"Anything else?"

"Not very much… Wait… she could control her power even without transforming, huh? Shidou would have a bad time."

"Yeah, I have discussed that with him. He needs to look out for himself this time."

"Don't worry. We will watch over him. You do your work."

"Thank you Kotori… Do you have Woodman's number?"

"Do you expect us to have it, considering how he communicated with us in the past?"

"…Good point. See you later." Closing his phone, Kuro then scratches the back of his head before asking himself: "Now, what to do…" Suddenly his phone rings up, signaling a message being sent to him. He reads it… "Good, get his attention."

…

Half an hour later. AE's HQ. Meeting room

"Hm… I was expecting… less people." Kuro opens the conversation first. "Scratch that. I was expecting a conversation between us only Woodman, with your secretary at best."

"When you mentioned her name, you should expect her parents to be concerned about the matter as well." Woodman calmly responds.

"True, true…"

Arriving at the time the Founder of Ratatoskr has made the accommodation, Kuro entered the meeting room seeing him and his secretary… and a couple of staffs he's unfamiliar with. However, the woman somehow reminds him of Kotori. And with Woodman's words, he can confirm that they're her parents.

Taking a seat to the left of Woodman (the secretary is standing to the right and slightly behind him), Kuro continues: "I'm a little surprised that you have answered me that soon. Considering I'm a stranger…"

"The reports said otherwise." Woodman sends him a warm smile. "With your, Goddess and Nightmare's help, our organization is a few steps closer from achieving our goals. I thank you with greatest gratitude."

"Don't mention it." Kuro then leans his head on his right arm and closes his right eye as he says: "I believe you know at least one of the reasons I'm here…"

"We do. It is about the First Spirit, correct?" Woodman replies.

"Yes. If you are aware, we're trying to trace her power down to the past. However, we seem to miss some details here. Even when I asked Reine about her possible location, she had no ideas."

"Hm… I can point out some more events for you to look into." Woodman offers. "Though, may I ask why you want to find her?"

"I need to learn how she works, so I could prevent Westcott from using her." He then changes the subject: "Of course, it's just one of many reasons. About the number of Spirits known around the world…"

"I believe that should be our question to you. You seem to hold a lot of knowledge to identify one."

"I mean, counting the dead ones."

"…Then I'm afraid I can't tell you. There are… mismatched cases, if you understand it."

Kuro nods, then sits straight up. "Alright. I guess that's all I could get from you. So, for the exchange, you can ask me a few things."

Woodman's smile never falters. "I would like to ask about you, actually. Reports from Fraxinus said that you were able to stop Nightmare and Ifrit's attacks with no troubles. And in Arubi Island, you were able to win against a full-equipped Wizard, one of the best I might add. While you told them to not report more, you did tell them that you can reveal yourself vocally. So, may I ask, what are you?"

"…" Kuro lets out a small chuckle. "What, huh? Very well then. I… was human. And I am, if you ignore all of my powers…"

"May I list it out?" Haruko Itsuka speaks for the first time. "Stopping Nightmare and my daughter's attacks, changing appearances, unrivaled speed, unlimited magic, surviving mines close range. Those things can't stuff in one human."

"Yeah, they can't." Kuro lets out another chuckle. "Centuries ago… to me, not to my friends… I died saving the others from a devastating curse."

That earns a small gasp from the married couple, as Tatsuo Itsuka apologizes: "We're sorry for bringing that up."

"It's alright. I did it myself, so no bad feelings." He then looks up to the ceiling and continues: "If I could summarize who I am… Well, a walking corpse, revived and become a God, then a servant, a King, then…"

"That's a long list, I would say." Woodman chuckles. "Though, become a God?"

"Well… not literally. I received their power and took their place in protecting their world, therefore people started calling me that too. Walking corpse is the right one, though."

"It makes sense how you easily defeated the Spirits, then." Haruko nods understandably. "May I ask what your relationship with Nightmare and Goddess is?"

"...You know, I was a little surprised when I found out how you can accurately call Emerald Goddess." Kuro smiles.

"…She's a goddess?" This time Karen speaks up with her monotone. "So your power is from her?"

"…Yes, and no. The Goddesses from her world are created from the people's belief towards the previous generations of them. I accepted the power in her parallel world."

"I see." Woodman nods. "So, is it possible that Mio is one of them?"

"…Low chances. While I wouldn't say it's impossible, the First Spirit didn't match any Goddesses in the past. Personality, or appearance."

"What about Nightmare?"

"She's my biological daughter." Kuro then laughs at the others' surprised faces. "Always expecting these expressions whenever I talk about my family."

"That's… a surprise." Woodman's expression turns to his normal self. "But why did you let her turn herself into a Spirit?"

"…That's not something I can say freely, I'm afraid. However, I could tell you this: She wouldn't dare doing anything outrageous unless I allow her to do so. So if you believe that you're the good guys, you have no fears facing her. About her turning herself… well, she's at that 'age', to make it short."

"…A rebellious time in her life, huh?"

"Pretty much it." And with that, everyone laughs, except the secretary though she does have a small smile on her face. He then looks at his watch and says: "We still have some times left. If you want to know something, you should say it now before I return back to Japan."

* * *

Hyperdimension. Leanbox

"Haizz, it's been a long time…" Vert sighs out loud. "I hope Emerald is okay."

"I'm sure they're fine!" Neptune says with her Neptune-assuring tone. "Kuro is with them, right? Nothing bad can happen to them!"

A large group is inside Leanbox CPU's personal room, having a tea party after a hard working day.

"I'm more worried about the people surrounding them, though." Noire has another concern. "They are having a very bad guy to fight against. He sounds worse than Arfoire."

"Same sentiment." Blanc agrees. "We can't really directly interfere though. That guy would try to capture us if we stay there for too long."

"What about a short trip?" They then turn to older IF, as she says: "The girls seem to have a festival in the next days. We can visit them then return with no problems."

"YAY! Let's go…"

"Not before preparing ourselves, Neptune." Charlotte Orleans, mother of Kurumi, interrupts. "In that festival, there's a rouge Spirit with power to manipulate sound. If we're not careful, we might end up leading ourselves to 'that' ending."

"Oh come on, Charlotte! Don't bring that up!" Neptune whines.

"I have to agree with Charlotte." Vert is on the queen's side. "They're not just having fun. They're dealing with people that could blow up a city if triggered."

"Fine…" Neptune's mood slightly goes down.

IF concludes: "Okay, tomorrow we will head to their places. For now, finish our tea."

* * *

**Chapter 9 end!**

**Be careful out there, readers. The virus pandemic is not over yet.**

**See you in the future!**


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